Undertale: Call of the Wolf

by Goldjim321

Summary:

Two years after the events of the true pacifist ending the player did something incredibly risky. With Chara's assistance, they were successfully able to reestablish a connection with Frisk, but this had unexpected consequences. It caught the eye of a threat far more dangerous than anything Frisk, Chara, or the Player had ever seen before. It captured one of them, and gave the other two a choice, save their friend and convince them to change their mind, or watch as the entire universe is annihilated.

Chapter 1: The Forbidden Deal

Darkness, it was the only thing fourteen-year-old Frisk could see around them. One moment they were scrolling through their phone after an extremely tiring meeting and the next thing they knew they were trapped in a never-ending void. It was weirdly familiar, as if they’d been here before, possibly hundreds of times, but they didn’t know why. The only experiences that were similar to this was when they died or Flowey absorbed the human souls, neither of which were positive.

“There has to be some way out of this,” thought Frisk as they plopped themselves on the ground, “I can’t just be stuck here forever.” They pinched themselves, hoping that this whole experience was just a bad dream, nothing happened. Frisk tried to use their menu, but the only thing they saw was an error message. Finally, they got up and called out to their friends: Sans, Papyrus, Toriel, Asgore, Undyne, Alphys, Flowey, anyone! And yet there was no response. Dejected, Frisk decided that the only thing that could do is walk out of this place. They didn’t care how long it would take; they didn’t care if it was impossible, all they wanted was to go home.

It felt like they walked for hours before they began to notice a slight change in their scenery. There was a faint golden glow in the distance, it was too far away to make out any details, but something about it was beckoning Frisk forward. “Is that the exit?” thought the teenager as they moved closer and closer to the golden light. As they trotted forward, they began to hear a conversation that never seemed to end. Moving as quietly as a mouse, they slowly approached the light and realized that what they saw wasn’t an exit but a person.

It resembled a humanoid star with sharp points for its arms and legs, and a smaller star for its head. Was it an alien, an angel, a demon, whatever it was didn’t feel familiar to Frisk. Maybe this wasn’t even their true appearance, maybe its true form couldn’t be perceived by mortal eyes. Perhaps they were overthinking it, after all they had seen far weirder looking monsters in the Underground but given their current circumstances anything seemed possible. Instinctively, they ran up to the glowing figure and asked it, “Are you trapped in here as well? My name is Frisk, I’m the ambassador of monster kind, I could really use some help finding the exit. So do you know where it is?” Their pleas fell on deaf ears as the entity simply ignored them.

Frisk pouted before noticing a strange button in the creature’s hands. It was a black box with an orange border around it, all of which encircled the word, continue. It greatly resembled the action buttons that Frisk saw Underground, each of which had their own purpose. These purposes included talking to people, fighting them, or sparing them, their similarities couldn’t be a coincidence.
Frisk pointed to the object and exclaimed, “Hey, I noticed that action button in your hands, you know the one that says continue on it. Could you maybe let me press it? I have a feeling it could help.” The being quietly pressed the continue button as it looked over at Frisk. “Observe,” bluntly remarked the entity as it stared back into the void, Frisk grumbled in response.

At first it felt like nothing changed only for a familiar golden flower to poke his head out of the ground. “Why is Flowey here?” thought Frisk, “and why did he only show up when it pressed the ‘continue’ button?” The ambassador didn’t know whether they should be scared or relieved by his presence. Flowey was an absolute wildcard, he could be kind in one moment and sadistic in the next. Even after he agreed to change for the better after reverting back into his soulless form, he still had a negative streak. Even if they were friends, Frisk knew to never let their guard down around him.
The entity shared no such feelings and merely stared at the Flower as he spoke. “Hi… Seems as if everyone is perfectly happy. Monsters have returned to the surface and peace prosperity will rule across the land.” said Flowey in a monotone voice. Frisk couldn’t put their finger on it, but his speech felt extremely rehearsed, as if he said it one hundred times before. They also noticed that Flowey was presenting their own life as a lot more ideal than really was.

Frisk had lost count over how many humans tried to screw over their friends, especially Asgore, after the monster had returned to the surface. To make matters worse, they were often disregarded by those detractors as there’s no way a child could possibly understand where they were coming from. The worst of those detractors was the mother of the integrity soul, she tried everything in her power to arrest Asgore and any other monster that were unlucky enough to earn her wrath.

She would have succeeded if Mettaton didn’t find the best lawyers’ money could offer, who exposed that she was framing innocent monsters for horrible crimes. They also emphasized Asgore should at least get pity for the situation he was forced into by the ancient humans. It wasn’t easy, but the old king got off the hook as long as he never hurt a soul again. If was to ever falter in this new mission, then every charge brought against him would be enforced to the highest degree. This was probably the craziest trial Frisk had to endure, but comparable stories happened over their two years as Monsterkind’s ambassador. It was always an uphill battle to reconnect the two species.

Flowey continued his speech, explaining how everyone’s lives were changed for the better after they reached the surface. Frisk was zoning out by this point, only to be knocked back to reality by one chilling revelation. “Well, there is one thing, one last threat, one being with the power to erase everything…You know who I’m talking about don’t you” He looked directly at the entity before saying, “that’s right I’m talking about you!” Flowey explained that this creature had control over the timeline and could reset it back to the beginning of Frisk’s journey whenever they wanted. Everyone’s new lives’ even Flowey’s could be erased without a second thought, never to be seen again. While Frisk was mortified by the revelation, the entity was just annoyed, “he always says this” muttered the entity under its breath.

Flowey continued, “Just let them go, let Frisk be happy, let Frisk live their life. If I can’t change your mind and you do erase the world, you’ll have to reset my memories as well.” What surprised Frisk the most with this speech was that Flowey actually seemed to care for their wellbeing. The small golden flower concluded his speech with, “Well see you later, Chara” before he disappeared into the ground.
Frisk was dumbfounded, they might not have known Chara the best, but they knew them well enough to know that this wasn’t them. It didn’t talk like Chara, it didn’t act like Chara, nothing about them seemed like Chara. While they started off really prickly towards Frisk, they were never this dismissive of them, and eventually they grew out their animosity. Even if they only felt like a voice in their head, Frisk always appreciated their company.

Something about this situation didn’t feel right, what was this thing?! As Frisk thought this, the entity pressed the continue button and repeated the conversation with Flowey over and over and over again. Throughout each of these resets the creature seemed like it was looking for something, perhaps they thought that Flowey was trying to tell them something. Though, no matter how many times they repeated it, Flowey never changed a single word. After a long time, the entity paused and slumped down onto the ground, seemingly defeated. Frisk didn’t want to approach it, they backed away before saying, “I know you’re not Chara.”

It looked directly at Frisk as it started to mutter to itself. “that’s it, that’s it, that’s it” repeated the entity, Frisk fearfully asked, “What… what do you mean by that.” The creature responded, “You gave me the answer, the person I need to find, CHARA!” The anomaly started chanting the name, Chara, over and over again. Like a ritualistic chant that was getting louder and louder, reminding Frisk of a terrifying cult leader. More bizarrely, they swore that they heard the sounds of computer keys clicking as it spoke.

“W-what are you doing?!” exclaimed Frisk as they saw the world around them swirl around the entity. They saw blue cracks form on the ground, as if it were made of ice. Frisk put their hands over their head and kneeled down as the sound of its chanting became deafening. The entity roared as it grabbed Chara’s name and crushed it within their hands. Frisk was still shaking as the room started to settle. They slowly got up and noticed that the dust from Chara’s name was flowing out of the entity’s hands. This golden dust was slowly coalescing into a new figure, and once they finally took shape, Frisk knew exactly who they were.

They had a green shirt with a beige stripe in the middle, messy brown hair, pale skin, and incredibly pink blush on their cheeks. “Chara…” Frisk quietly exclaimed, instantly recognizing the figure before them. The fallen child was puzzled as it looked around the room. Something caught their eye, and they bent down and looked directly at blue cracks along the ground. There was an unmistakably worried look in their eyes as they said, “That can’t be good.”

They looked up and soon noticed both Frisk and the bizarre anomaly and said, “Frisk, do you know where the hell are we?” The other human looked puzzled as they responded, “Your guess is as good as mine, I was hoping it was just a dream.” Chara sourly responded with, “Honestly it seems more like a nightmare, you’ve tried pinching yourself right?” Frisk chuckled as they said, “Trust me, that was the first thing I did.” Chara gave them a smirk before saying, “Did you try hard enough?” The ambassador retorted, “If I pinched myself any harder, I’d feel it in the morning.” Before Chara could respond, they were interrupted by the entity repeatedly pressing the continue button, while Flowey didn’t appear it still made an obnoxious dinging noise.

“Do you mind!” yelled Chara, “Me and Frisk are trying to find out if this is a dream or not and you’re just pressing a stupid button. Frisk, do you know this weirdo?” Frisk shrugged and said, “All I know is that they were able to summon you and Flowey, and that Flowey called them your name. Pretty weird stuff if you ask me.” With a dumbfounded expression, Chara yelled, “My brother seriously mistook this thing for me, first he gets us mixed and now this, he needs his eyes checked.” They composed themselves before looking at the entity and asking, “So what do you want, I know you brought me back for a purpose so what is it?”

It looked down at the Chara before responding, “I just want to see what happens next. I was guiding Frisk throughout the entirety of the Underground, just like you. Together we even got the best ending possible, but… I was shut out the moment we left that cavern.” Chara raised an eyebrow at the creature before asking, “If you’ve already got the happiest ending, why can’t you be happy with that?” as anomaly responded with, “I can’t be, not while this world collects dust on a shelf. Please, allow me to return, I’d rather not go with the alternative…” It gestured to the true reset button as it said this. The fallen human bluntly asked them, “And how exactly am I supposed to help?” It responded with, “Your combined soul is unique, it can interface with extradimensional entities such as me. I just need to have full control that vessel.” It pointed at Frisk as it said this, to which the later exclaimed, “V-vessel?! I’m not a vessel.”

The anomaly coldly responded, “You were a vessel once before.” Frisk looked down as they said, “Is that what Flowey meant when he said…” they glared at the entity before shouting, “I’m not giving up control of my body to you, not this time.” Chara nodded, “Frisk is their own person, I’m not going to sit back and let you turn them into your puppet.” The anomaly sighed as it said, “Fair enough, in that case how about a different plan, a compromise.” Chara squinted at the entity before asking, “which is?” It clicked its fingers before saying, “I’ll become a voice in their head, just like you. Frisk will still be the master of their own destiny and as long as you’re there with me, I won’t be able to take control.”

Chara analyzed the entity looking for any tells that they were lying. A nearly impossible task thanks to its near featureless face, but that wouldn’t deter the fallen human. Eventually they paused, with a shocked expression on their face as they said, “You’re being genuine…” The creature nodded as Chara continued, “If we decide to do this, you need to promise me one thing, you won’t try to change their route. Frisk is a good person; I don’t want them going down a similar path as my brother.” The entity bowed as it responded with, “I promise.” Chara sighed, they looked on for a moment before saying, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Frisk was baffled by their partner’s decision, and shouted, “Chara how can you even trust this thing?!” Chara responded, I’m not the biggest fan of this deal, but at the very least you’ll be in control. Plus, if they go back on their word I’ll just boot them, problem solved.” Pinching their temples, Frisk retorted, “Chara, that’s not what I’m worried about. Before you got here it repeated a conversation with Flowey, and he said that this thing is the only threat left to our world. What if there’s a more significant reason why it left after we escaped the Underground. What if it’s to protect us from something far worse?”

Chara raised an eyebrow before saying, “Like what, it’s going to create a reset bomb or something?” Frisk responded with, “I don’t know, but look at those blue cracks, they only appeared when it brought you back. What if that’s a sign that we’re doing something wrong?” Chara looked away, clearly still distressed by the lines on the ground. Frisk relented before sighing out, “I just, I don’t want this to blow up in our face.” Chara agreed as they said, “You and me both Frisk.” The Entity reasoned with, “Flowey was worried about me preforming a true reset, I won’t have that power if you’re in control.” Frisk looked down as the Entity continued, “These cracks are probably just the aftermath of summoning Chara, I don’t think they mean too much.”

Frisk was silent before asking ,“are you sure?” The Anomaly replied with, “Yeah I’m sure, plus if I’m wrong your friend can always kick me out before things get too hectic.” With a worried look on their face, Frisk said, “Alright I trust you, please don’t mess this up.” The entity looked pleased before asking Chara, “Do you also trust me?” they nodded in response. “Alright then we’re all in agreement,” said the Entity as they stretched a hand towards Chara, “Let’s shake on it.” The fallen human cautiously shook the glowing hand, it looked over toward Frisk beckoning them to do the same. Frisk only put their hands on top of the handshake, even though they agreed to the deal there was something that made Frisk unwilling to fully commit to it.

Regardless, the entity seemed to be pleased with Frisk’s corporation, even if they were hesitating. As the three of them shook hands a box appeared before Chara that had the word, Reconnect, written on it. They pressed it before the message, “are you sure you want The Player to reconnect with Frisk, Yes or No.” As Chara pressed yes, a rainbow-colored continue button appeared before the anomaly. Without missing a beat, the entity pressed it.

Connection Reestablished

The Darkness of the room seemed to completely disappear as Frisk, Chara and the Anomaly were lifted into the air. In its place, there was a glowing bright light that seemed to envelop the trio. “See I told you it would be fine” said the Entity right before the room went dark once again. The three fell from the sky and onto the cold ground below. Frisk rubbed their temple before asking, “So is this part of your plan?” As they asked this, ERROR handles appeared around them as the entire space flashed a crimson red. Alarm sirens were blaring into the trio’s ears, shouting the same message over and over again, “ERROR, ERROR, ERROR!” Even the Anomaly was panicking as they cried out, “No, nononononono, this isn’t workin- Chara, sever my connection immediately!” Chara yelled, “I’m trying to but every time I try to cut it, I just get this stupid error message!”

Frisk looked on in terror before saying, “Chara what have we done?!” Chara stammered as they said, “I, I don’t kn-, This wasn’t supposed to happen.” As they said this, the sound of breaking glass could be heard above, as suddenly giant shards fell from the sky. The two humans ran for safety, they were both lucky not to have been cleaved in half. Weirdly the anomaly barely seemed to notice the danger as it looked transfixed with the sky. “What are you doing!?” yelled Chara only for the anomaly to fearfully point above it, what the two humans saw next horrified them.

It resembled an indescribably massive wolf with vacant pits where its eyes would normally be, which were surrounded by glowing yellow markings that resembled exposed bone. Blue tear like tendrils were attached to these bones that seemed to reach down like macabre fishing hooks. It had a massive eye on the tip of its nose and three on its neck fur. All of these eyes were all staring directly down at Frisk and Chara, it was as if they were glaring at their very soul. The rest of the creature’s face was as dark as the night sky, yet it seemed to subtly shift in hue from red to blue. While Frisk had never seen anything like it, Chara was reminded of a creature that was only described in legends, “a…titan!” Chara looked on in horror, Frisk shouted, “Wait what did you call i-“Before they could finish, the creature’s tendrils lunged towards the anomaly.

The tendrils unraveled like the microscopic end of a string as they grabbed hold of the shining creature. Flashing a pattern of white and black, the wires moved in opposite directions, clearly trying to tear the anomaly in half, but it seemingly had no effect on them. It screamed in anger as its tendrils failed to make their mark, before eventually relenting. “Curious,” responded the wolf in a chilly feminine voice, “You're immune from my power, how annoying.” The wolf released its tendrils from the anomaly before changing its attention to Chara, “but that doesn't apply to your little friends does it!” Before they could react, a tendril unraveled and grabbed Chara and hoisted them thousands of feet into the air. “Help!!!” yelled Chara as they were brought up to eye level with the eldritch wolf titan. It was even clearer how miniscule Chara compared to this beast, even its pupils were the size of a large swimming pool.

The beast looked down at the small human writhing in its tendrils with pity, as if they were a bug in a spider’s web. Chara was trying everything, anything to break out of this beast’s grip, but no matter how much they struggled they could never get out. They were trembling, while the anomaly might have been immune to their powers, they knew damn well that they weren’t. As they braced for the end, the wolf softly said, “Don’t cry, I’m not going to erase you, at least not yet” The beast slightly loosened their grip before continuing, “You were manipulated by this, PLAYER, so I can’t fully blame you.” The wolf sighed, “How predictable, these types of mistakes sadly run in the family, but a debt must be PAID.”

Gathering as much bravery as they could muster, Frisk yelled out, “Let them go!” Amused, the wolf looked down at Frisk, grinning as it said, “Do you not know who I am mortal?” they continued, “Perhaps it’s better that you don’t as terrible things happen to those that search for me! I am known by many names, the She Wolf of Obliteration, The Eclipse of Existence, bah they’re all quite fanciful aren’t they? I’ve never been a fan of titles, but it’s charming that they all thought of some for me.” Her grip on Chara grew tighter as the tears in reality grew larger and larger. “Sadly, this little one won’t be able to give me such a title, as they’ll be thrown into the void. Honestly, I don’t really care what happens to them after that point, the void is filled with many dangers, many of which would love the power of a human soul.”

Frisk was shaking as they asked the creature before them, “Why aren’t you taking me, why are you only taking Chara?” she looked down at Frisk before saying, “Because you didn’t commit to the plan, you didn’t even shake on it. Trust me, if you had fully gone through with it, you’d meet the same fate as them.” She lowered her “eyebrows” as she continued, “Instead your fate will be to either live what little life you have left or convince me to spare it," Frisk fearfully responded with, “W-What do you mean by that?” The creature sneered, “Your player has damned the entire universe, I am bound by duty to destroy it! Though I am willing to give you a chance, you have one month to save your friend and your world. If you cannot complete this quest within this time, then I am truly sorry.”

As she said this the area around Frisk started to flash blue, with the beat of a monstrous heartbeat. “Why are you doing this?” yelled Chara, “There’s no reason to destroy the world just because one entity returned.” Dispassionately the she wolf looked at the terrified child within its tendrils and threw them into the void. “Frisk!!!” yelled Chara only for their cries to be stuffed out as quickly as they formed. The Shewolf’s expression softened as she said, “They will know in time.” Panicking, Frisk asked the beast one question, “W-Who are you, no titles, none of that, who are you?” She grinned as she said one word

“SKÖLLHATI.”

The world was splitting apart even faster now. It seemed like everything around Frisk wanted to rip them to shreds, it looked like mouths were forming across the ground eager to devour any passerby that was unfortunate enough to walk onto them. Everything started to blend together, like a macabre painting melting and swirling into one chaotic soup. There was nowhere safe, nowhere to hide, and just when Frisk feared their end was near.

“Beep, beep, beep!”

They were woken up by the sharp sound of their alarm clock. Was it all a dream? They hoped it was, for theirs and everyone else’s sake. They had to find their breath; it felt like they had just finished a 20-mile race and were expected to run another lap. They were drenched in their own sweat, as if they were trapped in a sauna in a full suit and tie. One breath, two breaths, over time they started to breathe normally again. Before they could calm down though, they jumped as their floorboards started to creak. There was something moving around down there, pushing through wood and possibly the foundation. Normally Frisk wouldn’t be scared of this, but given the circumstances they could only hide further into the cover of their bed.

They screamed as a familiar golden yellow flower burst from the floorboards, yelling “Good morning Frisk!” Flowey looked up at Frisk and chuckled, “Golly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this scared before, that’s honestly impressive. You must’ve had some crazy nightmare to react like that, is the stress of your ambassador duties really freaking you out that much?” Frisk glared at their unofficial roommate’s smug face; he was enjoying every second of this. “Screw you Flowey,” huffed Frisk as they got out of bed. The flower smiled at them before retorting, “You know I don’t think that will be possible, I’m just a little flower after all. Besides, you might want to get up, you don’t want to miss the big day after all.” As he said this, he pointed to date circled on the calendar, Undyne and Alphys’s marriage. Frisk looked on in shock , “wait that’s today?!” Flowey nodded, “Yeah so get your tuxedo dress and let’s get a move on. I bet the two lovebirds will be happy to see you there.” They lowered their eyebrows as they responded, “You know neither Alphys nor Undyne are birds Flowey,” the flower stammered in response, “Y-you know what I mean now get ready Frisk, we don’t want to be late.”

Frisk nodded and they ran off to get ready for this special day, hoping to brush off their experience as just a horrible nightmare. “None of that was true, right Chara?” thought Frisk, “Seriously one month to save the world, what do they think I am a superhero?” They heard no response, that’s fine maybe Chara was just too shellshocked from the dream. They’ll respond eventually, right? There’s no way that the dream actually… Frisk slapped themselves on both of their cheeks, they needed to get ready, they needed to forget that dream, there’s no way that it could possibly be real. Their world wasn’t in danger of erasure, right? Unbeknownst to them a small blue crack appeared on their alarm clock and a warning for what was to come!

Chapter 2: The Wedding

“Alright, clothes, food, go time” thought Frisk as they scrambled around their room looking for an outfit. It wasn’t too difficult as their wardrobe was already well organized thanks to Chara’s coaching…They knew for a fact that their room would probably be in a far more disastrous state without their spectral buddy’s assistance. It still sucked that they hadn’t said anything this morning but Frisk didn’t want to pry them, they had other matters to attend to. Like a prospector searching for gold, they looked through several outfits before finding their target. It admittedly took a little bit longer than they expected, but their efforts were graciously rewarded by a perfect dress.

From the white open jacket with a popped collar, to the black waistcoat, to even the purple belt and skirt, there wasn’t a fancy outfit that fit them better. This was the same thought they experienced when they saw it on sale a week ago. They appreciated that it wasn’t too masculine or feminine, in their eyes it was just right. Maybe if they wore this maybe they could forget about their horrible nightmare. Unfortunately, they could only admire their outfit for a second before they heard commotion in the hallway, their roommates were up! Immediately, they scooped up their outfit and ran into the hallway in order to meet them.

While the young ambassador was smiling ear to ear, this smile was as hollow as a vase. Their mind was still being suffocated by the memories of their dream. Even so, they still pretended to be happy, if not for their sake, then for the others. They didn’t want Sans, Papyrus or Toriel to be dragged down by their negative experiences, especially not on such an important day. It was the least that they could do for them, because if it wasn’t for their roomies, they might not even have a roof over their head.

When the monsters returned to the surface, the two skeleton brothers bought a house that was remarkably similar to their one in Snowdin. The two quickly realized that it had far more space than the original and rather than let it go to waste, they brought in Frisk and Toriel as roomies. For Toriel, Sans thought it would be a lot of fun to have a fellow pun lover in the house, especially one that he already had a great rapport with. While Papyrus disagreed with his brother’s decision, it didn’t take him long to warm up the former queen. For Frisk’s case, Sans decided to take them in for a far more pressing matter.

They were orphaned at an extremely young age and could hardly remember what their parents looked like let alone why they abandoned them. At first, they tried to uncover the reason behind their abandonment, why did they leave? What were they like? Unfortunately, what little they found only brought more questions than answers. When Sans found out about this, he knew couldn’t let the poor kid go back to the orphanage, let alone the streets. So he offered them a place to stay and Frisk accepted it without a second thought. It’s been nearly two years since they accepted his offer, and they wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As Frisk was reminiscing, they didn’t notice where they were going and nearly bumped into the great Papyrus. Thankfully, the eccentric younger brother of Sans stopped them before this could happen. He even prevented them from dropping their outfit on the ground like the loose sheets of paper in the arms of a highschooler. “GOOD MORNING FRISK, DID YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP, YOU NEARLY CRASHED INTO ME!” said Papyrus, as he pulled out a hand to steady the uneven pile of clothes in their arms. His outfit was certainly interesting, he was wearing a black tuxedo that was covered by a white apron that clearly belonged to Toriel. It didn’t take Frisk long to notice that the apron already had newly formed stains on it.

With a puzzled reaction, they asked him, “Are you cooking in a tuxedo?” Papyrus heartly laughed back as announced that “WHY OF COURSE I AM. I NEED TO LOOK MY BEST EVEN WHEN I’M COOKING, NYEHEHEH.” His laughing faded as he noticed that Frisk looked a lot paler than yesterday. He quickly asked them “ERM…REGARDLESS, ARE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT TODAY? YOU LOOK AS PALE AS A GHOST.” Frisk replied “It-It’s okay, I just had a bad dream earlier, you don’t need to worry about it.” Papyrus looked down at Frisk before saying “ALRIGHT BUT GIVEN YOUR REACTION IT MIGHT EVEN BE WORSE THAN MY LASER NIGHTMARE. I DIDN’T EVEN THINK THAT WAS POSSIBLE!” With a faint smile, the human asked, “Do you really think so?” The skeleton humorously replied, “NOPE, BUT IT MIGHT HAVE SOME MORE COMPETITION NOW.”

The ambassador chuckled at his response before slumping their shoulders back. They offhandedly said, “I bet I could forget about this nightmare if I could talk to my ‘penpal’ but they’ve been weirdly silent today.” Papyrus closed their eyes as he said, “THEY’RE PROBABLY JUST SLEEPING IN, IT IS THE WEEKEND AFTER ALL.” Frisk raised an eyebrow at him before sighing, “I know but It’s just a bit eerie right? They’re never this quiet and in my dream they...” As they were lost in thought, Papyrus comforted them by saying, “IT’S ALRIGHT FRISK, THEY’LL RESPOND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT. AFTER ALL IT’S NOT LIKE THEY’RE ON VACATION, RIGHT?” Frisk looked off to the side before Papyrus continued, “THOUGH BEFORE THEY REPLY YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO GET READY. I SAW SANS BRANDISHING HIS…BUBBLE BATH CONTAINER, I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.” Frisk groaned at the news, “Is he seriously planning on using it today?” Papyrus nodded, “UNFORTUNATELY YES, BUT IF YOU’RE FAST ENOUGH YOU CAN BEAT HIM TO THE BATHROOM! JUST BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR CLOTHES, YOU DON’T WANT ANY OF THEM TO GET LOST.”

“Got it” said Frisk as they dashed off to the bathroom with Papyrus following right behind them. While it was still several hours before the marriage, they knew that Undyne wanted them to be there early as possible. Knowing that Alphys didn’t have the highest amount of confidence, she wanted Papyrus and Frisk to be her personal cheerleaders in case she ever felt nervous before the ceremony. If Sans made them late thanks to his excessively long bubble baths, they’d disappoint Undyne on her wedding day which is the last thing Frisk would ever want to happen. They really didn’t want to get chased around with spears again, one time was already enough.

That thought flooded Frisk’s mind as they ran towards the bathroom door, barely noticing the seemingly lazy skeleton with a bottle of bubble bath formula. He was wearing a deep blue Hawaiian shirt with bone patterns replacing the flowers and long grey pajama pants that were swallowing up his legs. It hardly looked like Sans was dressed to go outside, let alone to a wedding, but Frisk knew very well that he wasn’t one for formality. Despite only shuffling an inch at a time, he was moving shockingly fast, even faster than Frisk. The teen thought they even saw skid marks form on the mahogany floor as he moved. Before he could get in, Sans was accosted by his younger brother who yelled “SANS THIS IS UNDYNE AND ALPHYS’S BIG DAY. THIS IS NOT THE DAY TO WASTE EVERYONE’S TIME WITH YOUR HOUR-LONG BUBBLE BATHS!”Sans shrugged as he said, “what can I say, it’s therapeutic.” Papyrus furrowed his brow “YOU NEVER EVEN GO IN, YOU JUST WATCH THE BUBBLES POP!” His brother calmly countered that“ I said it was therapeutic; I didn’t say it was useful.”

As Papyrus baulked at his response, Sans gave Frisk a knowing look as he motioned for them to go into the bathroom. The human walked in without Papyrus’s knowledge as the two skeleton brothers continued their argument. Papyrus sighed, “Could you at least change your outfit, it’s better suited for a pajama party than a wedding.” Sans looked off to his side, “fair enough, I’ll go find something fancier while the kid has a bath time.” Papyrus looked around, “SPEAKING OF FRISK, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHERE THEY ARE ?” his older brother replied, “oh they ran in during our argument, seemed like they were in quite a hurry.”

Papyrus nervously replied “WH-WHY OF COURSE, IT WAS ALL PART OF MY GENIUS PLAN TO KEEP YOU DISTRACTED SO THAT THEY COULD GET IN WITHOUT INCIDENT. ALL IN A DAY’S WORK FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” Sans could tell that this didn’t go exactly like Papyrus intended, but he decided to humor his little brother. He admitted that “welp you sure fooled me, i guess ‘you win suds you lose suds.’” Papyrus sighed, “I’LL ALLOW YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS FOR THE TIME BEING, JUST DON’T PUSH IT.” Sans calmly chuckled, “of course bro, we don’t want anything negative to bubble to the surface”

Papyrus groaned at that pun and as if his luck couldn’t get worse, a certain goat lady entered the hallway. With a smirk on her face she asked Sans, “ I don’t mean to ‘pop’ the question, but what kind of drinks do you think Undyne and Alphys like?” Sans covered his mouth in laughter, “I think they’re both fans of water, maybe we can get it out of the bubbler.” Papyrus overdramatically cried out, “AVENGE ME FRISK, I CAN’T DEFEAT THIS SUPER POWERED PUN DUO ON MY OWN!” Toriel chuckled as she replied, “Don’t you mean the ‘soaper’ powered pun duo?” The two punsters could hardly keep in their laughter, they could even hear Frisk laughing in the bathroom even as it was drowned out by the running water.

The only one who was unamused was the golden flower grimacing in the hallways. He was never a fan of the smiley trash bag, especially not since he and his mom moved in together. Flowey quickly disappeared from view, not wanting to hear any more of this silliness. Concidentally, the Great Papyrus also wisely decided to exit the room. He had to do it before he was subjected to his brother and roomie’s terrible puns for another ten minutes. More pressingly, he needed to make sure that two of them didn’t see him covering his mouth as he did so. As much as he denied it, even he had a soft spot for his brother’s puns.

Frisk didn’t mind listening to the cacophony of puns during their shower, at the very least it was distracting them. Anything that could keep their mind away from that dream was good in their eyes. Unfortunately, by the time they had gotten out of the shower, both Sans and Toriel stopped their routine, and with that their fears returned in full force. As they dried off and changed into their new clothes, they decided to test something out. They wiped the steam away from the bathroom mirror and looked at themselves for a long time, hoping for a response. When they only got silence they whispered under their breath, “…despite everything it’s still you…”

White steam flowed out of the bathroom as they opened the door. Their hair was still a little bit wet, but they could deal with that in time. As the steam slowly dissipated, Toriel exclaimed, “So that’s the outfit you decided on my child, I knew you would love it.” Frisk exasperatedly replied, “Ms.Toriel, I’m not your chil-“ only to be cut off as Toriel said, “I know, it’s just..” She sighed before continuing, “There are sometimes where you act a lot like them…” Frisk faintly smiled at her before noticing Flowey in the corner of their eye. Given his expression, he was clearly not enjoying this conversation. Toriel weakly laughed, “My kids have been dead for over a hundred years, and I still haven’t accepted that, pathetic is it not?” Frisk quietly replied, “Well they might not be as dead as you think they are.” Toriel raised an eyebrow as Flowey slid a vine over his mouth in the best approximation of a “zip it” he could manage.

They worriedly clarified, “I mean, you’re keeping their memory alive, that has to count for something right?” Flowey smacked himself in the face with a vine before Frisk continued, “Plus, I don’t think it’s pathetic that you still care about them.” Toriel sighed “I suppose you’re right.” before smirking, “Still, if they live on through my memories, does the same apply to your embarrassing phone call?” The ambassador let out a weak laugh as they replied “You’re never going to let me live that down are you?” She clapped her hands together and said, “ Nope. Now go downstairs, I heard Papyrus made omelets.” As she said that, Papyrus yelled out from the kitchen. “ WHY OF COURSE, IT’S THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF PROTEIN AND CALCIUM.” Frisk rolled their eyes “You didn’t get any on your tuxedo, right?” Papyrus laughed as he replied, “NOPE, MS.TORIEL’S APRON SERVED AS A MIGHTY SHIELD.”

“Well I am glad it served you well,” said the goatwoman before turning to Sans. She asked him, “So, are you planning to go with us?” He chuckled and said, “Nope, I’m just going to use a shortcut.” Papyrus yelled over to his brother, “I DOUBT A SHORTCUT IS GOING TO GET YOU THERE FASTER THAN MY CAR!” Sans flatly replied, “welp we’ll just have to wait and see.”
As much as Frisk would love to get involved with the trio’s silliness, they decided it was best just to eat breakfast. As they began to dig in, they were accosted by a familiar petalled pal. He whispered “That was a reaaallly close call Frisk, really close.” With a mouth full of omelets they replied “I really don’t get why want her to know who you are….” He bitterly claimed that “I already did in other timelines, and trust me I don’t want to go through that again. Ugh, It’s better if she just moves on with her life, she already moved on from Dad after all. Why not move on from her kids while she’s at it.” Frisk almost choked at that last statement, the bitterness in his voice was worse than orange juice mixed with toothpaste.

When they regained their composure they stated, “I bet she’d appreciate knowing that her son was still a-“ “Was what, a zombified flower without a soul” interrupted Flowey. The teen retorted, “You're still her son,” the flower coldly laughed, “Her son died one hundred and two years ago, I’m just a husk with his memories.” Frisk sighed, “You desperately need therapy” before he could respond they walked away from him. Without a word they put their dishes away and plopped onto the couch.

Secretly, they hoped that none of the others hadn’t heard their argument. Even if they thought it was dumb, Flowey was firm in keeping his identity secret and they couldn’t take that from him. As they leaned their head into the cushions, they heard the sound of trickling water above them. “Good, at least Toriel is in the shower, maybe she didn’t hear the two of us.” thought Frisk as they scrolled through their phone. They almost lost themselves in the sea of notifications and apps before they heard the water turn off.

It was pretty unusual for Toriel because she often stayed there longer to clean up any hairs that she left behind. Frisk hoped that she didn’t just rush to it as those unchecked hairs were quite adept at clogging the drain. As she walked down the stairs, they noticed that she was wearing a long blue dress, with small white stars on the bottom of it. When she asked Frisk what they thought of it, the teen simply responded by giving her two thumbs up as she walked past them. She picked up the keys and walked out of the door with Frisk following close behind her. While Papyrus originally wanted to drive, Toriel insisted that she’d be a better choice since she had a better driving record, to which Frisk had to agree. As they got in the car, they noticed that Papyrus put an odd suitcase in the trunk.

“Hey Papyrus, what’s in the suitcase?” asked Frisk. The eccentric skeleton whispered back that “IT’S A SURPRISE THAT WILL HELP US LATER, DON’T TELL TORIEL.” The driver raised an eyebrow as she said, “Do not tell me what Papyrus?” The skeleton stammered, “N-NOTHING, THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING SUSPICIOUS IN THIS SUITCASE!” Toriel softly chuckled to herself as he said that. It was an obvious lie but if he was willing to place it in the car then it could be that dangerous right? She just hoped that it wasn’t that stupid T-Shirt cannon that Papyrus had bought a few days ago, she already told him she didn’t want Frisk using that thing despite Undyne’s insistence. The car revved to life as she pushed down on the gas and before the trio knew it, they were already off.

The drive was relatively uneventful, even if it was incredibly long. While the wedding was only thirty minutes away from their house, the traffic delayed their commute by an additional 35 minutes. Frisk wondered if this traffic was caused by the wedding or if it was completely incidental. Either way, they had data so it wasn’t impossible to distract themselves, meanwhile Toriel was just hoping not to get into a crash. The people on these routes were as impatient as a bull and nearly slammed into her multiple times. It was an arduous process but eventually the three of them got to the venue in one piece.

As they jumped out of the car, Frisk observed the land around them. It was a large outdoor wedding with rolling hills and sakura trees in the distance. The only major buildings they saw before them was a small chapel, eclipsed by a massive clock tower that stood right in front of the altar. They were surprised that it didn’t have a roof, most of the altars they heard about in weddings often had one, maybe there was a reason for it.

Aside from that, the main things that caught their eyes were the dazzling flower beds before them. The variety on display was truly awe striking, from Golden Flowers, to Tulips, Roses, Daisies, even Echo Flowers were included. Even a master of gardening like Asgore would be impressed by the sheer beauty of this collection, in fact it was quite likely that the old king crafted this garden himself. They even noticed a small bench overlooking a pristine koi pond in the distance. Pink petals from the trees filled their vision as they looked around them. It was no wonder why the couple had chosen this place for their wedding, if there was a place nearby that looked like it came straight out of anime, it was this. Before they could fully appreciate the scene, they heard a familiar “heya” from in front of them.

Sans called out, “so you guys finally made it here, heh, I guess my shortcut really was faster than your car,” his younger brother immediately replied that, “WELL WE WOULD HAVE BEEN HERE A LOT SOONER IF IT WASN’T FOR THE TRAFFIC.” Toriel sighed, “You are certainly correct, it was not fun driving here through all of those jams and irresponsible drivers.” Sans interjected, “well it’s probably because a lot of people had the same idea as the three of you. undyne essentially invited every former member of the royal guard, so I’m not surprised that the traffic got pretty crazy.” The former queen nodded, “Well what matters is that we all got here in one piece, at the very least we didn’t have to deal with any ‘teleporting yield signs.’” She smugly looked at Papyrus who scoffed as he said, “IT WAS ONE TIME TORIEL, ONLY ONE.” He quickly calmed himself before he noticed what Sans was wearing. Paps swiftly proclaimed, “ANYWAY, THERE IS A FAR BIGGER ISSUE AT FOOT, MY BROTHER’S STILL WEARING THE SAME OUTFIT AS THIS MORNING.”

Sans knowingly raised an eyebrow as he said, “what do you mean paps? this is a completely new outfit, just look at how fancy it is.” He motioned to a bottle cap on his shirt that had the word “fancy” written on it with a black marker, this was the only change in his attire. “THAT’S HARDLY ENOUGH.” remarked Papyrus, “YOU JUST NEED TO PUT MORE EFFORT INTO YOUR SUIT. MAYBE YOU COULD WEAR A TUXEDO OR A TIE, ANYTHING FANCIER THAN A STINKING BOTTLE CAP.” The older skeleton chuckled, “and when have I ever worn that?” to which Papyrus replied, “NEVER, BUT IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TRY.” The older skeleton shrugged, “fair enough, I’ll just wear your fedora next time,” Papyrus narrowed his eyes as he claimed that “I DO NOT HAVE A FEDORA! THOUGH IF I DID, I BET I’D LOOK QUITE HANDSOME IN IT.”

While holding in their laughter, Frisk asked Sans, “Well regardless if Papyrus has a fedora or not, does anyone know where Undyne and Alphys are?” He sighed, “I’ve seen alphys but undyne's still no show. my best guess is that she’s still hauled up in traffic, heh it happens to the best of us.” Frisk looked at Sans with bewilderment as they mentioned, “But that doesn’t even make sense, she could easily throw all of the car out of her wa-” Sans interjected, “frisk I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, plus wouldn’t that just make traffic worse.” The ambassador admitted that , “I suppose you have a point, anyway, do you know where Alphys is?”

The short skeleton replied, “oh, I saw her walk into the chapel a couple minutes ago. she’s probably just trying to get away from all of the noise.” The teen looked off to the side as Sans said this, before smiling. They soon proclaimed that “I’m going to make sure that she’s doing okay, I’d be pretty distressed if my partner was missing at our wedding.” Papyrus chimed as he said, “GOOD ON YOU FRISK! ANYWAY I’VE GOT TO GO TO THAT BUILDING AS WELL, I HEARD THEY HAVE SOME REALLY GOOD PENNE.” His brother smiled, “you two have fun,” before he disappeared into the crowd with Toriel.

Simply getting the building was a hassle. There were a lot more people there than Frisk originally realized, some familiar faces and some that they had never seen before. Shockingly there were even some humans in the crowd, Frisk guessed that Alphys had something to do with that. While Frisk only knew a couple of them, the entire crowd seemed to recognize them. They were bombarded with questions coming from all sides, they couldn’t even focus on one. While they were used to people asking questions, this was still very overwhelming. Thankfully, Papyrus noticed their distress and grabbed their wrist and dashed through the crowd. They had to squeeze through a sea of happy faces before they finally saw the chapel.

Once they got past the door, the duo sat down in exhaustion, even they had their limits. “YOU KNOW I’M STARTING TO GET WHY ALPHYS AVOIDS CROWDS NOW.” said Papyrus as Frisk nodded, “You don’t even know the half of it.” As the duo walked through the building, they quickly found Alphys talking to a bird and dog-based monster. She was wearing a black groom’s outfit with white spots on it, it was almost reminiscent of a dress they wore back in the Underground. Frisk was surprised that she decided against wearing a gown but knowing Alphys, there was probably a reason for it.

“Hey Alphys,” called out Frisk as they waved to their old friend who slowly turned to them. She exclaimed, “O-oh I didn’t see you there Frisk, I was just talking to some of Undyne’s old colleges.” The bride paused before continuing, “Sooo are you enjoying the marriage? I know it’s a lot, but Undyne just wanted the best for me, even if it’s admittedly pretty loud out there.” With a small smile, the ambassador shrugged, “Honestly I haven’t been here for a long time, everything has been good so far, I love the garden. Though I have to ask, do you know when Undyne is going to be here?”

Alphys put her left hand on the side of her head, “Honestly I don’t know, She hasn’t really replied to many of my messages today.” As she said this, she noticed that Frisk was looking down at the ground. She didn’t know why, but the kid seemed to be oddly distressed about the news. Was this just about Undyne being late or was there something more? Regardless, she quickly remarked “B-but she said she’ll be here soon, so I don’t think we need to worry about it.” Thankfully that seemed to assuage the kid’s worries who slowly nodded to her with a smile on their face. They cheekily remarked that, “Honestly I think the bigger worry is Papyrus eating all of the penne.” This prompted Alphys to look behind her as she saw Papyrus walking off with Dohj and Marlet right to the penne bowl. “Wait guys, that isn’t just for you!” said Alphys as she chased after the trio of monsters.

Frisk stayed with the Alphys and Papyrus for about an hour. They mostly talked about small things, from the latest anime that Alphys was obsessed with, to what the couple’s plans after the marriage, and even how Undyne and Alphys planned to combine their last names. Though the more they spoke to each other, the more distressing Undyne’s absence became, especially to Frisk. As much as they didn’t want to think about it, this situation subtly reminded them of what happened to Chara in their dream. They really hoped that this day would have been happy enough for them to forget about it, but nothing seemed to work.

Even though they tried to mask it, they couldn’t hide their distress from Papyrus and Alphys. Their forlorn face betrayed their attempts to hide their sadness. Whenever they thought about Undyne or looked at an object, they thought about the friend that was stolen from them. Alphys looked over to Papyrus and asked, “Have they been like this all day?” the skeleton replied, “YEAH. HONESTLY YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THEM THIS MORNING, THEY LOOKED PETRIFIED DUE TO A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE. TO MATTERS WORSE, THEIR SASSY PENPAL HAS BEEN GHOSTING THEM ALL DAY.” “Their penpal?” said Alphys as she raised an eyebrow, something about this seemed suspicious. Papyrus continued, “YEAH THEIR PENPAL, FRISK HAS BEEN TALKING TO THEM FROM THE PAST TWO YEARS. APPARENTLY THEY CAN EVEN GET THEIR MESSAGES DIRECTLY SENT TO THEIR BRAIN, PRETTY COOL RIGHT?” Alphys remarked, “Well, Napstablook and Mettaton have told me that they’ve heard a second voice come from Frisk, apparently they’re a big fan of narrating the teen’s every action. I wonder if this penpal and their narrator are connected?”

Papyrus contemplated this as he said, “THAT’S DEFINITELY POSSIBLE, I THINK YOU'RE ONTO SOMETHING SCIENCE LADY.” “That’s not even the craziest part,” said Alphys, “I-I was going through some of the old tapes to Mettaton and he said that voice sounded a lot like Char-“ Before she could finish, Frisk quietly interjected, “…what are you guys talking about?” In a panic, Alphys quickly responded that, “I-It’s n-nothing, o-oh look at the time! I have to get up on the altar fairly soon.”

She calmed herself before saying, “Though, if you need to talk to someone, remember that we’re all here for you. It’s funny, you were here to help me out if I got nervous, but here I am giving pep talks.” Frisk admitted that, “Honestly I haven’t been doing the best today, I’ll try to keep it together for yours and Undyne’s sake.” The former scientist replied, “I appreciate it but-“ as she was about to finish, she was approached by the priest. He lowered his head and said “Alphys it’s time to go.” She nodded and walked towards the door, the priest looked over to Frisk and Papyrus and proclaimed, “You two are coming as well, you both have roles to play in this ceremony.”

As the duo followed behind the priest, Frisk asked him, “Father Alvin, what exactly are our roles in the ceremony?” The turtle monster kindly explained, “Well Papyrus was named as Undyne’s best man and you were set up as the flower kid. I don’t know why you were given that role since most of them are typically three to ten and you’re a lot older than that. Though Undyne was very determined in making sure that you had that position” Papyrus interjected, “DON’T WORRY FATHER ALVIN, WE FOUND THE PERFECT WAY TO AGE UP THIS ROLE FOR FRISK.” Father Alvin looked at Papyrus and asked, “And how are you going to do that?” to which the later replied, “WITH THE INCREDIBLE CONTRAPTION HIDDEN IN THIS SUITCASE, NYEHEHEH.” He patted it several times for maximum emphasis. Father Alvin calmly remarked, “right… Well I’ll believe it when I see it.”

As the four of them walked to the altar, Frisk saw the large crowd that was forming around them. Even though they weren’t given a basket, they still mimicked the motion of throwing flowers. They even noticed a familiar goat man in the audience who seemed to be amused by this display. Weirdly, there seemed to be several tv crews recording the entire presentation, and they soon saw the person responsible for it. “Hello darlings! Sorry I’m late but it was quite difficult to take a break from my brand new show, Mettaton Terrific Trips.” Called out the titular performer, “. I was supposed to be in the Bahamas this week, but when you said that you wanted me to be your best man, I just had to drop everything and come here.”

Alphys awkwardly replied, “Well I’m glad you were able to make it, this ceremony wouldn’t be the same without you.” He nodded his head, “Indeed, without me we wouldn’t be able to catch every moment of this glorious day in jaw dropping high definition.” Alvin huffed, “You’re an actor right? And as an actor you have a role to play and it’s not by placing cameras everywhere.” The robot chuckled, “Oh come on darling, this is going to be a fun wedding, why not record it for all time?” His priestly critic replied, “That doesn’t mean we should televise to the whole world.” With the winds knocked out of his sails, the only thing Mettaton could say in response was touché.

After the introduction of the robotic celebrity, the crowd waited on faded breath for Undyne, but she was still nowhere to be seen. Alphys began to panic as she heard murmurs in the crowd, “where was she?” “Did she dip on the wedding?” “Does she even love her fiance?” All of these questions swirled around her mind as the clock slowly ticked on. She eventually said, “I guess today, just wasn’t the day. I’m sorry for wasting all of your time, maybe we can reschedule it to-“ only for her to be interrupted by a booming shout, “And why the hell would you do that!” The lizard bride looked above her and saw a blue fish woman in a beautiful white gown standing at the top of the clock tower. Alphys adjusted her glasses before exclaiming, “Wait Undyne?!” the mysterious figure laughed as she said, “Of course it's me babe, I meant to tell you earlier, but my phone ran out of power. Besides…” she said as she leaded off the building, “I wouldn’t miss this day for the world!!!!”

She landed on the altar with such force that Alphys was knocked into the air, only for Undyne to heroically catch her in her arms. Everyone else fell flat on their faces. Alphys bashfully looked at Undyne who said, “Alphys I promise to always be there for you in case anything goes wrong.” The lizard nervously replied, "w-wait are we doing this now?” As her fiancé claimed, "Hell yeah, I’ve kept you waiting long enough haven’t I?” The smaller bride smiled before saying, “Well I promise to never keep secrets from you, I’ve done that too much in the past.” Undyne laughed, “Well I’ll just have to hold you to that,” motioning to Alphys still being in her loving grip. As she said that, she got a two thumbs up from Papyrus who noticed her unconventional pun.

Alvin slowly got to his feet and dusted himself off. If someone had told him that one of the brides was going to lead off a flipping building and slam into the altar he might’ve reconsidered this job. He asked the couple, “So I assume the two of you both take each other as loving wives.” Undyne stared him down and said, “What kind of question is that?” as she and Alphys said in unison, “We do.” The turtle priest smiled as he said, “You may both kiss the brides.” The newly married couple looked lovingly into their eyes, before passionately kissing each other. Cheers and tears were all shared by the audience when they did this, even the most hardened of warriors couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion. As Undyne slowly lifted Alphys down, she looked over to Frisk and said, “Hey punk, this wedding is pretty good but it’s missing some flowers.” She took Papyrus’s suitcase and gave it to the teen.

“Thankfully you have the solution right here!” said Undyne as Frisk opened the suitcase. They were puzzled by its contents, “A t-shirt cannon?” Papyrus soon interjected, “OH BUT IT’S NO ORDINARY T-SHIRT CANNON, THIS ONE THAT FIRES OUT FLOWERS.” The fish bride added, “Yeah, it can make sure the whole room is filled with flowers, it's so much cooler than a stinking basket.” As Undyne said this, Frisk got a massive smirk on their face and started firing flowers out of the canon with wild abandon. The altar, the crowd, the building, nothing was safe from Frisk’s flowery rampage. No one, not even Toriel could stop them.

The party lasted for several more hours, and it was incredible. Whether it was shooting people with flowers, watching those same people get weirded out by Sans and Papyrus drinking ketchup and marinara sauce, or Mettaton cutting the wedding cake with a chainsaw, it was certainly a day to be remembered. Though as the party started to wind down, the thoughts Frisk had at the beginning of the day started to rear their ugly head yet again. As much as they tried to suppress them, the teen couldn’t stop them from clouding their mind. After a while, they realized that they just had to clear their mind.

They walked over to the bench overlooking the pond and sat there for a long time, it felt like hours. The pond was filled with large koi who’s glistening scales were luminated by in the dim sunlight of afternoon. These fish seemed to be the only things that were soothing their nerves. Their thoughts seemed to melt away before they heard a voice say, “so kiddo what are you pond-ering?” Frisk looked over their shoulder and saw their old friend Sans sitting right next to them. He let out a small laugh before he noticed Frisk’s dour expression. Sans said “eh, not one of my best jokes, but in all seriousness are you doing alright buddy?” The teenager mumbled under their breath, “it’s nothing…I-I’m doing fine…” The skeleton raised an eyebrow before he said, “welp, it’s definitely more than nothing. both papyrus and alphys told me that you were feeling really down today. sure you were definitely having fun, but it seemed like the second there was any downtime you just crawled into a ball, mind telling me why?”

The human finally said, “I..I had a nightmare last night, where a massive she wolf kidnapped a friend of mine and told me that I had one month to save them. If I can’t do that she’ll erase the entire world!” Sans sighed as he said, “that’s certainly some nightmare, still it’s crazy that it’s still affecting you. but I get it, I got them all the time when I was your age, and i'm fairly sure it’s for the same reason.” Frisk looked over to their pal, “And what reason is that?” Sans calmly replied, “one word, stress. I was only a year older than you when I took over my old man’s position and trust me I didn’t handle it well. It’s a lot of responsibility to put on the shoulders of a teenager. ” The human looked over to Sans and said, “I don’t think that dream was caused by me overworking myself, it felt way too real.” He closed his eyes, “I don’t know frisk, it’s hard not to pick up on the parallels. I mean you already feel like our fate is on your shoulders and now you have an entity claiming that you have one month to save the world. call me crazy, but i think they’re connected.”

Frisk looked Sans square in the face and asked him, “Do you want me to quit?” he shook his head, “no, I just want you to have freedom to be a kid again.” The teen let out a smile before saying, “Thanks Sans, I appreciate it,” He nodded, “no problem kiddo, but I have one more question. in your dream you mentioned that this beast kidnapped one of your friends, who was it?” While looking toward the ground Frisk said, “She captured my penpal. In fact that’s one of the reasons why it stressed me out so much, they haven’t said a single word to me all day. I want to believe that it was just a dream, but at this point I’m starting to assume the worst.”

The skeleton slouched down, “so chara’s giving you the silent treatment huh?” While they looked off to side Frisk said “Yeah I suppose they are-“ before their eyes widened in shock as they exclaimed, “Wait, how did you know that they were Chara?!” Sans chuckled before explaining, “welp, it’s kinda an open secret for me, alphys, and the ghost monsters. the ghosts could hear that kid’s narration loud and clear, and when they saw the old dreemur tapes your narrator and chara’s voices were a perfect match.” The teenager put their hand behind their head, “I guess we couldn’t keep it a secret forever; I’m just surprised that you found out before I told you.” Sans leaned back as he said, “what can I say, I have a knack for reading people.”

The ambassador laughed before they added, “I just hope Chara’s okay and not in the clutches of Skollhati, I really don’t want to fight that thing.” They laughed before they felt the crushing silence around them. It was as if the mention of her name was enough to make the whole world stop in place. The white pupils in Sans’s eyes had disappeared, leaving behind the empty black voids in his eye sockets. He looked over to Frisk and asked, “where did you hear that name?” Despite his tense tone, Frisk could tell that the lazy skeleton was mortified by the mention of the creature’s name. “I heard it in the dream, why?”, asked Frisk as Sans stood up and pulled out his phone. He started furiously typing before he said, “it's just, a very notable name. anyway I’ve gotta borrow an invention from alphys, when I tell her the situation I think she’ll understand.” Before Frisk could ask their friend to elaborate, they had already teleported away, leaving Frisk alone again.

They looked over to the pond one last time before they heard a mysterious voice say “The sight of the shining koi fills you with determination.” Despite being something Chara would say, Frisk knew in their heart that this wasn’t them. As they looked down onto the ground, Frisk said, “You’re not Chara, are you.” It quietly replied, “No, but I remember Flowey mistaking me for them.” Once it said this, Frisk curled up into a ball and covered their face with their knees. They slowly said, “Then that means…no…no…it was all real.” The entity stayed quiet for a bit before saying, “I’m so sorry Frisk.” Their response did extraordinarily little to calm them down. Frisk could no longer hide from the truth, everything that they had experienced, that deal, the kidnapping, everything. Which also confirmed their worst fears, this world only had one more month to live!

Chapter 3: Omen

This had been an extremely important day for Alphys. She finally got married to the woman that she loved, she had a great time at the wedding, and it seemed like everyone felt the same, but there was a nagging feeling that something was wrong. It always felt like their friend Frisk had been suppressing something at the party. Now she had seen them stressed out before, those ambassador meetings were a prime opportunity to ruin the kid's mood, but this felt different. It felt like something had scared them to their very core like the fear of god was etched into their soul. Papyrus mentioned that their “penpal” had disappeared was also a worrying sign.

She took a deep breath and looked back at her wife, who was blissfully sleeping right next to her. It was strange how someone so bombastic could be so peaceful as they rested. Unconsciously, she wrapped her arms around Alphys and pulled her closer. Undyne was mumbling in her sleep, maybe it meant nothing, but Alphys could sense that she was trying to comfort her. Perhaps she had the right idea, maybe this whole situation would be sorted out in the morning. Alphys joined her wife in the comforting embrace of slumber, hoping to wash away her worries with the cover of nightfall. Unfortunately for Alphys, she wouldn't have long to rest before a familiar face came to her doorstep.

Outside of the couple’s house, the land around them was quiet, far too quiet. Despite the bombastic wedding that occurred a few hours ago, not a single soul made a sound, all except one. Within the blink of an eye, a stout skeleton appeared before the couple’s house. He had a worried expression on his face, sweat poured off the top of his skull, and his breaths were labored. Even as the fireflies danced around the echo flowers, he couldn’t shake the tension that was already building up in the air.

Sans really didn’t want to be the person to do this. On a normal night he'd sit back and watch some good old TV shows. In fact, there was a really fun one that he desperately wanted to binge but he couldn’t afford to do that tonight. When Frisk told him that they saw Sköllhati in their dream, he knew that he had to get here as fast as possible. While he wasn’t sure if the kid fully knew what they were up against, the fear in their eyes spoke louder than words. That demon had told them everything.

As he approached the door to Undyne and Alphys’s house, he thought to himself, “what would I even tell them?” He fashioned himself as a good natured comedian, a person who would make anyone laugh even if they had an awful day. He didn’t want to be a doomsday prophet, especially not right after the couple’s wedding. As he thought this over, he looked at the sparkling scenery around him. From blooming flowers, to the rolling hills, to the imposing fish-like building in front of him, if he didn’t act now it could all be gone by tomorrow. If Sköllhati won, there would be nothing left, no landscapes, no people, nothing but a blank void. So with all of that in mind, he finally steeled himself and knocked on the door.

He stood there for a solid minute, before he heard clattering coming from inside the house. Clearly the person who was about to greet him wasn’t expecting any company at this hour. Slowly Alphys peaked her head through the door and asked “S-Sans, w-what are you doing here?” He claimed that, “welp I just wanted to see how the two lovebirds were doing after their wedding. great party by the way i loved the vibes.” She raised an eyebrow as she said, “Alright…? Don’t you think you could have texted me that over the phone?” Awkwardly she continued, “Either way I should probably go back to bed, me and Undyne were just together and-”

Before she was cut off with, “that’s not the only reason i’m here! something came up last night, something regarding frisk.” The lizard asked, “Are they sick, I’m pretty sure I could lend you some medicine if that’s the case.” Sans replied, “nope, outside of some meeting-related stress they’re in perfect health. but they saw someone in their dreams. a being that could erase our entire world if they aren’t stopped. heh, i really hope it's a fluke, maybe flowey told them about her for shits and giggles. but i won't know that for sure unless i use one of your machines.” His words lingered as Alphys's mind raced with possibilities, each more troubling than the next. Slowly, the scientist begged to know “w-who did they see?” Sans’s eyes darkened as he said the name “sköllhati!”

Panic immediately filled Alphys’s face with the utterance of that name. She fearfully cried out” Sköllhati!!! Sans, please, Please tell me that you’re joking.” He said, “alphys, do you really think I’d pull a prank on you today, at this hour?” Alphys backed away as she started pacing around the room getting more worried by the second. She put her palm on her head and exclaimed, “Now I see why they were so scared. Sans, do they even know who she is?!” As he looked off to the side, he admitted that “they know enough.” Without warning Alphys grabbed Sans by the collar and yanked him into her house, rushing straight towards a mysterious door. As it opened, it revealed a dizzying amount of stairs descending into darkness. She looked back at Sans and said, “Come on, we don’t have any time to lose.”

As the two of them descended into the lab, the skeleton wondered, “is this a secret lab? I thought toriel relieved you of your royal scientist duties?” Alphys replied, “Well yeah she took away my duties, but this,” She paused as the laboratory lights lit up “this is all recreational.” The room was drenched in a green light, Sans could see many of Alphys’s inventions littering the room. There were some that he recognized, but there were many more that he didn’t. As he looked around, Sans said “welp it certainly looks like you’ve kept yourself busy. have you told anyone about this place?” Alphys quickly answered “yup, me and Undyne come down here all the time. I would have told more people, but Toriel would probably kill me if she found out that I still have a secret lab.” The skeleton shrugged, “honestly I think you’re worrying too much, tori isn’t that cutthroat when it comes to science. she just didn’t like you keeping folks away from their families.” The lizard sighed “I hope you’re right. Look if we all manage to survive this, i’ll tell her all about this lab, though with Undyne backing me up.” Sans said “fair enough” as Alphys got to work turning on a machine.

It was known as the “Timeline Stability Investigator,” it resembled a massive supercomputer with several tubes coming out of it. The skeletal slacker wasn’t sure how Alphys was even able to move this massive machine down here, but he was glad that it was still intact. As it whirled to life, it made a loud droning noise that echoed throughout the entire room. Sans had tried to find solutions for that byproduct in the past, but nothing ever seemed to work. Despite the drowning noise of the machine, the two of them could faintly hear footsteps coming from up the stairs. Undyne yawned, “Hey Alphys, why are you doing a science experiment right no- Wait, Sans what the hell are you doing here?!” He shrugged, “I’m just doing an annual check on the timeline.” The fish yelled “Bullshit, even if you had to check up on the timeline you could have waited until the morning or after me and Alphys’s honeymoon.” Alphys worriedly replied “Look honey, I’m sorry for waking you, but I swear this is importa-” the machine dinged, “O-oh it’s already done.”

The assembled trio looked up at the number on the screen, ninety six percent stability but dropping. Undyne said, “96 percent? Heh, honestly that looks pretty stable to me. Looks like the two of you were worried about a false alarm.” Her wife retorted that “Actually anything outside of one hundred percent is bad news. These numbers imply that some sort of outside entity is affecting our timeline. Let me see if I can track them down.” The fish woman looked over to Sans, “Wait can it seriously do that?” The bonehead shrugged “yup, we added that feature a long time ago. this machine can not only detect anomalies, but it can also find out if they’ve been in our timeline before or not.” The machine soon dinged again as a robotic voice said, “two new anomalies detected since yesterday.” Alphys clicked on the information assigned to the entities and quickly found out that they had both been here before.

The first one had been in their timeline twice and worryingly to the trio, its first appearance seemed to correspond with Frisk’s time in the underground. Unfortunately the second anomaly was infinitely more troubling. While it had been nearly a century since their last appearance in this timeline, their very presence was directly linked to the world’s instability. “shit…” said Sans under his breath, “that’s her.” Alphys clasped her hands over her mouth, her eyes grew wide as she looked on the screen with horror. This was in contrast to Undyne who was just confused by the whole situation. She didn’t know who this entity was and why her presence was freaking out Sans and Alphys but dammit she was going to find out.

Undyne asked Alphys, “Alright I want answers,who the hell is this lady?” Her wife slowly replied “h-her name is Sköllhati, the devourer of existence. Me and Sans are the only people in the world who should even know about her.” The skeleton nodded, “and it should mostly stay that way, after all we don’t want to risk some poor schmuck summoning her. getting her attention is a one way ticket to oblivion and i wouldn’t wish that on even my worst enemy. Alphys remarked, “I still can’t believe that Frisk saw them in their dream, I can’t imagine how they must’ve felt.” Sans looked up at the screen and sighed, “honestly the biggest surprise here is that there’s a second entity. they arrived here around the same time as the old wolf and that makes me wonder if they're working together!”

Once he said this, Alphys’s face turned a stark white. Dealing with Sköllhati already felt impossible, and now with a second anomaly on the loose, their already low chances of success might’ve dropped to zero. She slowly remarked, “Th-they might be, for all we know they might be just as dangerous as her...” A twinge of fear came over her as she mulled over that possibility, shaking as she did so. Thankfully one thought seemed to calm her, for as high as a likelihood that they were malevolent there was just as high of a possibility that they weren’t. Maybe they were actually trying to help them, it was certainly a more hopeful hypothesis than the alternative.

With them in mind she continued “But maybe they’re not working with her. After all we don’t know anything about this creature, maybe they even want to stop Sköllhati!” Undyne pumped her fists in the air “So you’re saying they’re a hero from the multiverse who’s come to kick this big bad wolf's ass, Nyahahah I like the sound of that!” Her wife nervously replied, “I-i probably wouldn’t go that far, but it is just as likely that they’re here to help us rather than the alternative.” The fish warrior nodded before she started pacing around the room, her face deep in thought. “Hey Alphys I have a question,” said Undyne, “If Frisk saw Sköllhati in their dream wouldn’t they also see this secret entity?”

Alphys stroked her chin, “It’s definitely possible, still I feel like they would have brought them to Sans.” The titual bonehead replied, “not going to lie, i kinda dipped when they mentioned sköllhati, so if they saw some sort of secret anomaly they sure as hell didn’t tell me.” Undyne pipped up, “Wait you left the second they told you that they saw a universe destroying anomaly?! Why didn't you stay back and ask more questions?” Sans defended himself with “look as much as i’d like to chatted with them getting here was a higher priority. after all, I didn't know if their dream was real or not.”

The lizard scientist interjected, “Well I'm going to text them, if anyone knows the truth about this secret entity it's them.” Her skeletal colleague sighed, “are you sure they’re going to respond at this hour?” As Alphys reasoned, “Well now they know the whole world is on their shoulders, I bet they’ll respond in thirty minutes tops.” The bonehead sighed, “that’s certainly optimistic, they were in a pretty bad mood earlier. I just hope things are going better for the kid…”

Things were not getting better for Frisk. They were just told that the horrible nightmare they had last night was all real. Chara’s kidnapping, Sköllhati, the world potentially ending, none of it was a result of their wild imagination. While they tried to keep a happy facade as they were driven home, Toriel and Papyrus could see right through it. Their eyes were red, their nose was runny, even to the untrained eye it was clear that they had been sobbing a few minutes ago. But even though the duo tried to console Frisk, no matter what they said or did, the teen was largely unresponsive. Eventually the two of them decided it was best for them to have some space and remained quiet for the rest of the car ride. Frisk heard their phone ding several times, it was Alphys trying to reach out to them about their dream. As much as they'd like to her right now, they just didn’t feel mentally prepared to talk about that nightmare again.

Once they reached their home, Papyrus asked them, “FRISK ARE YOU GOING TO BE OKAY?” They choked out a response, “I..I’ll be fine, I just need some time to myself.” The tall skeleton understood and backed away from Frisk giving them plenty of space. Toriel looked over to them and asked, “Did something happen at the Marriage?” The teenager shook their head, “No, the marriage was wonderful, honestly if it wasn’t for my…allergies…it probably would have been the best day of my life.” The goat woman retorted, “I would not say that Frisk, you are only fourteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. I am sure you will experience many days that are just as good if not better than this one.”

Frisk winced as she said this, how could they tell Toriel that they might only have a month left. How could they tell her that the whole world might be gone by that time. They had to put up a brave face and lie, it was better than telling her the truth. “Well, I'll be very lucky when I do,” said Frisk while looking back up at Toriel. She had a faint smile as put a hand on their shoulder. Softly she said “Do not worry Frisk, everything is going to be alright.” The teen weakly nodded and looked back towards the staircase. “I…thanks Ms.Toriel,” said Frisk, “but I should probably wash up, I can't really go to bed looking like this.” They wordlessly walked up the stairs while waving to their roomies, even if they were in a bad mood they shouldn’t let anyone else know that. Once they got to the bathroom door, they took a deep breath. Their heart was pounding as they turned the knob, knowing full well what they had to do. The two downstairs had no idea that Frisk was soon going to make contact with an anomaly.

They looked into the clear mirror and splashed frigid cold water onto their face. As they stared into their reflection, they noticed that their eyes were still puffy from their tears. “God I look like crap”, they said to themselves before steadying their breathing and asked, “who are you?” It took a few seconds, but they quickly heard a small voice blurt out, “I'm [Whydashen]...Wait that's not right! My name is [Whydashen], damn it!” Frisk raised an eyebrow, “Is everything okay?” the entity roared, “No it isn't! No matter how many times I say it, my name keeps coming out as ‘Whydashen’, what’s going on!” The teen put their finger on their chin, for some reason that name sounded familiar. “Oh, ‘Whydashen’ is a spoken version of Y/N, I've seen that name a lot in Alphys’s fanfics” said Frisk. With a huff, the anomaly replied, “Interesting observation, god this is so weird...”

As the entity said this, a realization came to Frisk, “this creature is a lot more human than I thought.” When they were in their dream, it felt cold, detached, and apathetic, like it was a soulless machine. The only time that mask seemed to break was when Sköllhati made her presence known, but here they are fussing over their name. It was weirdly funny to the teenager as a thought soon came to their head. If this entity didn’t like its name then maybe there’s a way that could use that to their advantage. “Whydashen” seemed to be significantly stronger than them, but they doubted it could survive the oldest trick in their book!

The ambassador looked to the side as they said, "you know…. if the circumstances had been different I would have commented on your name, hehe~.” The entity wondered, “What do you mean by-” only to notice Frisk mischievously smirking in the mirror. “Why are you so dashin,” said Frisk as their smile reached from ear to ear. An awkward silence filled the room, as the entity said,“You little punk!” The ambassador innocently claimed, “Come on, that pickup line is practically free.” Only for the anomaly to reply, “I will not be flirted with by a fictional character, especially not one so young!” Frisk rolled their eyes, “Pssh, ‘fictional,’ whatever you say Flowey, pffffthahahah!” As they caught their breath they continued, "Anyway Whydashen’s a bit wordy of a name. I think I'm going to call you Dash instead, what do you think?” While grumbling the anomaly replied, “Dash is fine.”

The anomaly now named Dash, paused before remarking, “ you've been taking this a lot better than I thought you would.” As Frisk claimed “Oh trust me, I'm not! Just because I'm taking the piss out of you doesn't mean we're friends, you tricked me and Chara into a stupid deal that ended in their capture. And to make matters worse, I now have to save the entire universe from a world devouring god that you pissed off! You have no idea how hard I'm trying not to break down and cry in front of everyone!” Dash shouted, “Hey, I didn’t know Sköllhati existed nor that she’d be pissed off by my return.” The teen grumbled, “You still wanted to use me as what, a vessel?! Sorry, but for as much as you denied it in our little dream, I'm still my own person!”

Begrudgingly the anomaly admitted, “...yeah honestly that wasn't the best choice of words…” Frisk exclaimed, “Now that's the understatement of the twenty-second century.” They weren’t expecting their ears to be blasted by the entity laughing, “WHA-HAHAT!!!!” The ambassador whimpered, “Geez I'm going to get a headache.” Dash replied “Hah, oh sorry about that but you have to be messing with me. There's no flipping way that’s actually the-” They stopped as Frisk pulled out their phone, the year was 2115. The anomaly stammered out, “How the hell am I talking to someone from 90 years in the future, not even your parents should be born yet.” Frisk shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe I just have a talent for talking to dead people?”

Dash had to admit that the teenager had a point. By this point in history they'd certainly be in the dirt, that didn't make this reveal any less weird though. “That’s almost humbling,” said the entity “I wonder if this is how Chara felt when they possessed you.” They paused, “Speaking of Chara… do you know where they are?” Frisk grumbled, “I don’t know the void, that’s the only clue Sköllhati gave us. Besides why do you even care, you got what you wanted you’re back in our world. Sure it’s going to die but you’ll probably have your fun by then.”

The entity yelled out, “Why would I be okay with that?! Listen, I know I messed up, I know I put the whole world in danger, so that’s why I’m going to fix it. So I need you to work with me, do you have a way to find them? Do you know anyone who can locate them?” Frisk admitted that, “Honestly I don’t know, maybe Sans or Alphys, they’re the best scientists I know. Maybe they can figure out where Sköllhati took…” as they said this, Frisk remembered the messages that Alphys left them and turned on their phone.

As they scoured their texts they noticed something interesting, many of them asked Frisk if they saw an unknown entity in their dream. One that was completely different from the wolf that they told Sans about. Frisk couldn’t believe it, how did Alphys even suspect that there was a second entity? Sans couldn’t have told them, he left before they could even get to that part. Maybe she knew something they didn’t, maybe she was able to detect Dash somehow. They weren’t sure how but this was Alphys they were talking about, she was able to turn a brick phone into a jetpack in mere moments this would be child’s play to her. Seeking answers just as much as Alphys, they called her number and diligently waited for her to respond.

It had been over an hour since Alphys first started sending those messages to Frisk and she was already starting to doze off. Honestly, who could blame her, the emotional whiplash she experienced today would be enough to tire anyone out. Though as she started to close her eyes, she was suddenly jolted awake by the iconic Mew Mew Kissy Cutie One’s theme song. It was set as her default ringtone for the majority of her friends including Frisk, could it be? Sure enough the young human was calling her, their number was unmistakable. While she probably would have preferred a simple text message, she was glad that they were reaching out to her. Unfortunately as soon as she answered the phone was bombarded with questions. They asked her: did Sans tell you about the dream? Why did you think there’s a secret entity? Do you know about Sköllhati? The poor scientist was overwhelmed by the teen’s many inquiries and barely had time to respond to any of them. As she was floundering to reply, Sans asked, “hey al, do you need any help?”

She claimed that, “I’m doing fine, i-it’s just a lot of questions, you understand right?” Sans nodded as Undyne cut in, “You know, I think we should just bring them here. Telling them the world is screwed over the phone is lame, they need to see it to believe it!” Alphys replied, “Undyne! I don’t think that’s a good idea, especially on such short notice. Also I doubt that Papyrus and Toriel will be okay with them disappearing in the middle of the night.” The Bonehead shrugged as he claimed that, “they’ve had far weirder trips than this. tori and my bro will be okay with it as long as they come home at a decent hour. my only concern is that it will be harder to bring them here. this is the first day i’ve been to your new lab after all, so finding an appropriate shortcut might take time.” The lizard sighed as she asked Sans, “Do you actually think this is a good idea?” The lazy skeleton nodded as he walked out of the room. Alphys quickly told Frisk that Sans would be picking them up and that he’d explain everything to them. She ended the call as she looked over to her wife, “Do you think the two of them will be alright?” Undyne laughed as she said, “Please this is Sans we’re talking about, I’m sure he’ll bring them back in one piece.”

It took several minutes but eventually Sans returned to the lab with Frisk in tow. The two of them certainly looked like they had seen better days, Frisk even had twigs in their hair. Sans said “sorry about that kiddo, i haven't been here before and I don’t teleport as well when i’m tired.” Frisk winced as untangled a twig from their hair. They looked over to Sans and groaned, “You still didn’t need to shortcut us straight into a flipping tree.” The lazybones claimed, “if it makes you feel better, i’ll tell paps all about this later, he deserves to hold something over my head after the yield sign incident.” The teen silently nodded as the skeleton said that, at least that was something positive to come out of this experience.

Their eyes slowly adjusted to the glowing green light of the room. If this had been a day earlier they would have been amazed by all of the incredible inventions around them. They would have run around asking Alphys about the functions of each of these machines, while eagerly waiting for her response. Unfortunately their mind was still piecing itself back together after they teleported into a tree canopy. The fact that Sans appeared so suddenly and effectively rushed them out the door didn’t help matters. A part of them just wanted a break, but they knew that they couldn’t afford to have one, not while everything’s on the line. Frisk looked over to the couple who were both clearly concerned for the young human, clearly the two of them knew what they went through. As their mind began to process everything around them, they remembered the reason why they were brought here and walked over to Alphys.

They asked her, “So why did you decide to bring me here, couldn't you just tell me everything over the phone?” She replied, “Well, Undyne thought it was better for you to see this in person, besides I couldn’t really keep up with your rapid fire questions.” Frisk faced away from the two of them in embarrassment, she absolutely had a point. Without missing a beat, the two scientists soon gave Frisk the rundown on their discoveries. They told them about the two anomalies detected in their world, and the stability of their timeline, and the fact that these creatures had been here before. Alphys questioned the human, “Soooo, did you see anyone in your nightmare? someone other than Chara and the wolf?” They sluggishly admitted, “Yeah, I saw Flowey and some weird glowing entity, let’s call them Dash. It wanted to “reconnect” to our world by using my body as a vessel, thankfully, Chara was able to make ‘em compromise and now they’re just a voice in my head. Unfortunately, that alone was enough to tick off Sköllhati and because she couldn’t take Dash she stole Chara instead...”

The teen became silent after they said this. Tears poured from their eyes as they stared down at the ground, as they desperately tried to hide their reaction. Frisk continued, “I-it’s their fault all of this happened, and I don’t k-know how to fix it. Sköllhati said I only have a month left to exist, if I can’t find Chara in time then, then...” Sans corrected them, “if we can’t find Chara in time. trust me kiddo, we’re not going to let you go about this alone.” Undyne added, “Yeah, also if you need to let it all out I won’t stop you, hiding your emotions can’t be healthy.” Frisk faintly smiled at the two of them, at least they were trying to make them feel better about the situation. “Thanks guys,” said Frisk as they wiped away their tears, “I really needed that.” They then asked Sans, “By the way, did you know about Sköllhati before today? You dipped the second I mentioned her at the ceremony.” The skeleton closed his eyes as he said, “yes, and at this point I think you deserve the full explanation.”

He closed his eyes as he reminisced of times long gone, “...it was over twelve years ago. back then, me and alphys were just wide eyed interns of the eccentric dr.wd gaster. I don’t blame ya if you’ve never heard of him, not a lot of people like to talk about him after the accident, but that’s a story for another time. anyway, he was one of the greatest royal scientists ever employed by asgore, he made the core after all. still the man never knew his limits, no matter how crazy the experiment or phenomena was he jumped right into it. that was until he discovered her. one day, the three of us discovered a dangerous anomaly that was capable of ripping entire timelines apart in mere seconds. while me and al were terrified of the beast, the old man was enthralled. this was a multiversal deity of destruction, we had only heard of similar beasts in myths and legends. what secrets could we learn about beast? and what would these secrets tell us about the multiverse? this quest for knowledge consumed him and the he looked into the shewolf, the more and more his sanity slipped. he told me it felt like he could see eyes staring at him in all directions, whenever he drank, whenever he slept, no matter what activity he did, sköllhati was watching him. Eventually, even realized that he had to call it quits. we hid, buried, and even burned any research paper that discussed the wolf! because we knew that if anyone continued his research, then the entire world would be brought into jeapordy!”

There was a small pause before Sans exclaimed, “and that’s how i know about sköllhati. it’s not a story i like to tell people, especially since she can be quite the eavesdropper.” Frisk bluntly stated, “That’s not reassuring,” the skeleton replied, “just be careful who you tell it to, i don’t want anyone to get on her bad side.” “I think it might be a bit late for that, " said Frisk, “but I won’t tell a soul unless it’s completely necessary.” Alphys asked Frisk, “Outside of that, did Sköllhati ever tell you where she put Chara? You never really specified that.” The teenager replied, “Well she claimed she threw them into the “void” do you know where that is?” The lizard groaned, “Unfortunately I don’t, I've looked into the multiverse before and there’s many places that can be called a void. There are so many candidates out there that I don’t even know where to start!”

Frisk asked the trio, “Well is there anything I can do to help? Maybe you can run an experiment on me and we can track down where their soul is. Our souls used to be fused together so maybe we can-” Sans interjected, “actually i’ve already thought of a way you can help.” The teen asked, “really what is it?” as Sans answered, “simple, getting some rest.” Dumbfounded, they yelled, “Wait, why?” the greasy skeleton answered that, “well you aren’t really yourself when you don’t get enough sleep. besides, I don't really think there’s much we can do right now, so i say we wait until we’re all fully rested.” They retorted, “But we’re in a time crunch!” Sans replied, “and you think that one night is going to kill us?” “m-maybe” said Frisk, in a very unconfident fashion. Sans sighed as he said, “look, it’s been a long day for you, i just…don’t want you to tear yourself up about this.” Defeated, they silently mouthed okay and proceeded to walk up the winding stairway out of Alphys’s lab. “i'll bring you back home in a minute, i just need to talk to al first.” They nodded silently, but kept the door slightly open as they listened into the conversation.”

Alphys told Sans, “I think Frisk can be a big help on this mission, they have one of the two anomalies inside them and this isn’t the first time they’ve technically saved the world.” Looking down Sans admitted, “i know, it’s just, i see a lot of myself in the kid. a kid their age should be worrying about beating the next installment of dragon blazers or having crushes on fellow students, not on having to save the world. that type of pressure isn’t healthy for them.” The lizard looked off to the side and admitted, “You’ve got that right.” Sans nodded, “i just want them to enjoy their childhood, heck they’re only a year younger than i was when i…” he trailed off as he said this. “Became the royal scientist right?” said Alphys as Sans nodded. She continued, “You only lasted in the position for three years, it doesn’t take a genius to know that you couldn't handle the pressure.” He silently nodded, “it took me ages to climb out of that funk, i just, i don’t want them to end up like me.” He walked up the stairs, and added, “see you soon al,” as the two waved each other goodbye slowly disappearing from view.

The trip back wasn’t as tumultuous as the trip to Undyne and Alphys’s house. Even through his tiredness, Sans had still made a marked improvement in this shortcut, no trees could block them now. Though as he brought them to their room, he could see the conflicted look on Frisk’s face. Unfortunately he already knew why their young roomie had this expression. “great, they eavesdropped on the conversation,” Sans thought to himself, as he closed the door. He really didn’t want them to hear all that, they were already being belittled in those meetings, he really didn’t want to contribute to that. Hesitantly, he decided to grab a bottle of ketchup and put on his new favorite tv show, maybe this would all blow over in the morning.

Frisk could barely get any sleep. They were thinking of Sköllhati’s ominous warning, the powerlessness they felt in this situation, and the way that Sans wanted to keep them away from this conflict. While they couldn’t blame Sans for wanting to shield them from this pressure especially after learning about his past, this decision still hurt them. Sans always had a way of shielding his family and friends from darker realities, especially Papyrus and now they were doing it to them. They couldn’t stand it, there had to be a way for them to contribute, there had to be something they could do. As they mulled it over, they remembered that they weren’t always alone in their room. Sometimes an old friend would show up and they weren’t talking about Chara!

Even in the low light, they noticed the hole that was made in by Flowey in the morning. They slowly walked towards it, making sure not to make a loud enough creak in the floorboards. Thankfully any noise they might’ve made was drowned out by Sans watching an old tv show. While they couldn’t see the screen, they had a gut feeling that it was that weird one about a metaphysical thinker with a snake for an arm. Ignoring Sans’s odd taste in tv shows, they knocked on the hole that Flowey had made and a cobra from a jar, he slowly emerged out of it. “Geez Frisk it’s basically midnight, what do you want right now?” said Flowey with his eyes still closed. Frisk smirked as they said, “Well, I just need some help for a project,”

The Flower scoffed, “Really at this hour, what’s in it for me?” Frisk said, “Oh nothing, it’s just Alphys might’ve found a way to bring back the dead and if you help me out, we might be able to bring back Charrraaa.” The Golden Flower perked up before saying, “You’re lying, there’s no way that can possibly be true.” The teen shrugged, “Well we were able to bring you back, right?” Flowey retorted, “Yeah as a zombified flower!” “Touche,” remarked Frisk. Suddenly, Flowey got an idea, “Let’s make this interesting, if we find a way to bring Chara back, I won’t pick on you for an entire month.” Frisk asked him, “And what if we can’t?” he then replied, “Well then I’m leaking your birth certificate.” Appalled, Frisk yelled, “You wouldn’t dare!” Flowey added, “Oh-ho but I would, plus it’s good to have stakes in these little deals, what do you say?” The teen was already questioning their decision. On one hand Flowey could be a great help in finding Chara and on the other they really don’t want their birth certificate to get out there. That thing didn’t even have their name on it, or at least their current one. Against their better judgement they held out their hand, “deal” said Frisk. The flower wrapped his vines around their hands and responded in kind, doing his best attempt at a handshake. “So,” said Flowey, “Let’s bring back my sibling!”

Chapter 4: Gameplan

This had been an extremely long day for Frisk. From their friends getting married, to learning of the world’s incoming destruction, and the revelation that they were controlled by a mysterious entity when they were twelve, no one could blame them for wanting a break. Still they couldn’t stop, not while the world was in danger, not while they had only a month to fix it, not while Sans underestimated them. All of these thoughts consumed Frisk’s mind as they tried to stay up during the night. Unfortunately even legendary their determination couldn’t beat back their exhaustion, even Flowey could see it. They wobbled and swayed, trying to keep themselves awake but despite their best efforts they collapsed on their desk. Their eyes slowly closed as the embrace of slumber quickly overtook them.

Flowey looked quizzically at them while they snored. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that they hadn’t told him everything. They talked about how Sans and Alphys were planning on bringing Chara back to life, but they never went into the specifics. Also, given what happened with the amalgamates, Flowey doubted that Alphys would want to through that again. If she couldn’t bring back monsters on the brink of death, why would she try to bring back someone who had been dead for over a century. Someone whose flesh had long since been decomposed by the earth and probably didn’t have too much DNA left to create a clone. What were they going to come back as a skeleton? Is this just another way for that filthy trash bag to mock him? He already didn’t like that Sans and Toriel had become close, so bringing Chara back to life as a skeleton would be the ultimate insult. Still, the human was confident that they could bring his sibling back, they were even risking their birth certificate being leaked to the world. So what were they hiding from him?

Instinctively, he opened up the teen’s phone and inputted their password. Despite Frisk’s best attempts at hiding it, nothing could escape Flowey’s vigilant gaze. It might have been stalking, but it was stalking for a good reason, and that reason was playing mobile games when no one was looking. Though as soon as he opened the phone he noticed something peculiar, Alphys had texted them a lot. She asked Frisk about their nightmare, and a mysterious entity known as Sköllhati. Now, Flowey had looked into this beast in some of his earlier resets, but he couldn’t find a lot of information on her. Most of the files on her were either missing or intentionally destroyed. It was annoying, but he had better things to do than to chase some mysterious wolf, but now things were different.

He learned that this creature had appeared before Frisk in their dream and took Chara, somehow, shouldn’t they be dead? Perhaps those ghosts were telling the truth when they claimed that they heard their voice coming from Frisk. The teenager did have moments where they slightly acted like his long deceased sibling, maybe they were inside them this whole time. Or used to be inside them if their nightmare was to be believed. This was all getting very interesting for Flowey, he’d have a lot of questions to ask Frisk in the morning.

He picked up a blanket from the floor of the room and placed it onto their slumped over body. Even if they were keeping secrets from him, they deserved to be a little bit more comfortable. Still he wasn’t about to tuck them into bed, that would be far too nice of him. He thought about what he should do for the night, he certainly wasn’t going to bed any time soon. Maybe he could go to Alphy’s house, no that would be too far away, maybe he could go to his dad’s house, no that would be the same issue. It sucked being up so late, as nearly everyone was asleep and would be pissed if he made a single peep.
He thought about it for a moment before he realized that the library would be closed right now. Even though being quiet is expected there, he knew from experience that they didn’t have the best experience. Maybe he could “borrow” a couple of books and see if any of them had any details about the wolf shaped destroyer. Sure, they’d probably be hidden from the public eye, but he doubted that the humans would be anywhere near as thorough as the monsters when it came to hiding the beast.

He knew it would probably take him the entire night, but there was a high likelihood that he’d find a book about this beast. Plus, the library wasn’t that far from the skeleton brother’s house, so he wouldn’t even be that far away from Frisk. He could do some investigating and check up on his friend without anyone knowing that he was even gone.

With his destination in mind, the flower slunk into the shadows. Large vines around the ambassador’s room as he disappeared from sight, even if he was leaving, he’d still make sure that Frisk was there when he got back. He even kept hold of their phone as he burrowed out of their room. He took one last glance at Frisk before a sadistic smile crept over his face. He said, “Sweet dreams Frisk, you’ll need them!” as he cackled into the night.

The human dozed off for a long time, perhaps it had been an entire day. Eventually they were awoken by the call of…seagulls? Frisk’s eyes slowly opened up as they squinted at the sun shining above them. They could hear the crashing waves echoing from behind them and could smell the salty breeze of the ocean. Where the hell were they? This was clearly not their room, nor their home, had someone kidnapped them?!

They looked off to their sides and soon realized that they were in a metal coffin that was filled with golden flowers. “Very funny Flowey,” Frisk thought to themselves as they observed their surroundings, “very funny.” This admittedly didn’t add up, their home was at least thirty minutes away from the nearest beach and they doubted that Flowey would be that gentle if they brought them there. If he brought them there, they would have been dragged around on the ground like a bag of trash. They couldn’t have slept through that right?

They tried to get up, but something was keeping them down. It felt like there were long spikes gouging into their back and their entire body was as sore as a black eye. Obviously they couldn’t lift themselves out of here, but maybe they could move one of their limbs. The teen slowly lifted their left arm into the air, even though it hurt like hell they still carried on. The golden flowers were slowly displaced as their left hand slowly came into focus, but it didn’t look like their hands. They were pale white, they looked like they hadn’t been kissed by sunlight in many years. Frisk never had a skin tone like this, people always said that they had a golden complexion. If they didn’t know any better they’d assume that these hands belong to… Suddenly a thought came to their head as they yanked their arm out of the flowers and noticed a bright green sleeve emerge from the pile. These features, the pale white skin, the green sleeves, all of them matched-

“Chara!” yelled Frisk as they jolted themselves awake. They got up with such force that they fell back on their chair, slamming their head on the hardwood below. Remarkably the chair itself wasn’t damaged, but the same couldn’t be said for Frisk. As their head coursed with pain, they heard a familiar voice say, “So you’re finally awake!” Their eyes slowly adjusted to see the small golden flower staring them dead in the eyes. “You know it’s kinda weird that you were yelling their name.” continued Flowey, “Almost like you know something I don’t.” The teen weakly replied, “I-it was just another weird drea-.” before they were grabbed by vines and hauled to their feet. He pulled Frisk’s face up to the phone and asked, “so why didn’t you tell me about this?!” They saw all of the messages that Alphys had sent them, with the golden flower highlighting every mention of Chara and Sköllhati. “Ah shit.” said the human, “I guess I have some explaining to do.”

Frisk quickly told Flowey the truth, the real truth. While they were understandably hesitant to do this earlier, it was clear that Flowey was going to make their life a living hell unless they were honest with him. He intently listened to every detail, with his face shifting from an expression of smugness to horror to even sadness. “So… is that everything?” asked Flowey as Frisk silently nodded. He pulled back the vines as Frisk fell back down on their knees, they were thankful Flowey had moved them away from their chair. “You know, I get why you didn’t tell me everything,” said Flowey, “If I knew about Sköllhati when we were down in the Underground, things could’ve gone very differently.” He pulled closer to them, “Still if we’re going to be working together, you should be honest with me, especially when it involves my sibling.” The human silently said, “Fair enough, I guess I could’ve been more transparent.” They then asked him, “By the way, you aren’t going to anyone about the wolf, right? Sans said that things could get dangerous if more people knew about her.”

“That’s what those books said about her as well," remarked Flowey. “Those books…?” said Frisk as glared at Flowey, “What did you do when I was asleep?” The flower waved them off while saying, “Oh relax, I just borrowed some ancient books from the library, I don’t think they’ve been used in nearly one hundred years. The last guy who used them was named Hans, his name is the last one in each of the book rental logbooks.” Frisk exclaimed, “That’s not the point, you stole from the library, what do you think Toriel is going to say when she finds out about this?” The flower said, “Don’t worry, I’ll give it back to them, plus I gave them a generous tip before leaving the building, so it should be fine.” While clenching their temple Frisk said, “please tell me that you aren't going to tell anyone else about her.” The Flower zipped his mouth, which was enough for Frisk to hesitantly trust him.

They looked towards their drawer and hastily pulled out a poorly drawn poster, with small figures representing Frisk, Flowey and the two scientists. “Alright with that settled, let's go over the game plan.” exclaimed Frisk with a determined look in their eyes. “While Alphys wants me to help, Sans thinks that it will be “too much pressure” for me. So if he tries to keep me away from the mission, I want you to spy on Alphys in case I can’t get there today.” Flowey nodded along to Frisk’s plan, he especially appreciated that Frisk had drawn stink lines around the Sans figure, accuracy was important after all.
He then asked them, “So how do you plan on keeping in touch with me?” the teen replied, “with your phone?” He laughed, “Frisk I don’t have a phone,” as he was met with a raised eyebrow. “I know you stole Papyrus’s old one” remarked Frisk, as the Flower replied, “No I didn’t!” “Flowey…” said Frisk with a knowing look on their face. “...Fine you got me,” admitted Flowey as he pulled out the skeleton’s old phone, “I still can’t believe that I didn’t get away with that.” Frisk smirked, “You know honesty is a two-way street, if I’m forced to be honest with you then you have to be honest with me.”

Crossing his vines, Flowey remarked, “Fair enough...” as Frisk added, “also no stabbing me with vines.” “And when have I ever done that?,” said Flowey as the human answered, “last night?” He laughed it off, “Please if I stabbed you last night, then it would have left a wound, but outside of a possible concussion from your little fall I’d say you’re completely fine.” While Flowey could’ve been telling the truth, Frisk didn’t believe him. He already lied about stealing Papyrus’s phone so why wouldn’t he lie about this? As they moved their hands to their back, they expected to find a small amount of blood, but they felt nothing. No gashes, no blood, aside from falling back on their chair they were completely uninjured. “See what did I tell you” said the Flower, “Why would you even think I did that in the first place?” “I saw it in a dream.” admitted Frisk, earning them an eye roll from the Flower. “Of course you did…” said Flowey as he disappeared from view, “We’ll keep in touch.”

Flowey burrowed through their floorboards as the teen slowly got to their feet. In the darkness of their room, they noticed the time on their alarm clock, “shoot it was already noon.” As they looked at their device, they soon noticed a bizarre crack covering its screen. It had a distinctive blue aura pouring out of it, it looked just like the lines that appeared when Sköllhati appeared. Against their better judgment, they picked up the clock and as soon as they did that their arm started to shake. Their vision started to blur and their body and the room around them started to glitch out like a corrupted video game graphic. Thinking on their feet, they found an old sock on the floor and placed the alarm inside it. The room slowly started to go back to normal as they sighed in relief. They knew that they’d have to tell the scientists about this, they’d have to tell them that Sköllhati’s attack had already begun!

Frisk briskly walked out of their room, making sure that no one had noticed the strange glowing sock that was now in their hands. Thankfully, no one seemed to be in the house at the moment, whether they were busy or just giving Frisk space was anyone’s guess. As they walked down to the living room, they saw good old Sans sitting on the couch. He almost seemed to melt into the cushion's loving embrace, his eyes closed in a quiet bliss. “and papyrus says i have long naps,” said the titular skeleton, “did you sleep well?” Frisk looked off to the side while grimacing, “Not really.” He sighed, “welp that sucks, hey so about yesterday...” The human cut him off, “It’s fine I just know you’re looking out for me.” Once they said this, they noticed that Sans had raised an eyebrow, clearly he didn’t think they were being genuine.

“So where is everyone else?” asked Frisk as Sans looked off to the side. With a sigh he said, “they're out today. someone from the city council forced them into an interview, but from what papyrus told me over the phone it seemed more like an interrogation.” Once Frisk heard that they groaned, “please tell me that person wasn’t…her.” The skeleton looked Frisk dead in the eyes and said, “unfortunately they're exactly who you think they are. apparently one of her relatives watched the wedding on tv and saw something weird on your t-shirt cannon. That was all it took for her to take action. heh, i was only spared from her wrath because i was busy”

“Something weird with the t-shirt cannon? Did it happen to look like this?” asked Frisk as they opened the sock and revealed the messed-up alarm clock. “honestly i’m not sure, paps was really sparse on the details, though i respect that you put that in a sock,” said the lazy skeleton. “I learn from the best,” said Frisk, “Anyway I think these objects could be really beneficial for our investigation.” Sans chuckled, “look i appreciate your enthusiasm, but how exactly is this going to help us?”. Frisk answered, “When I touched the blue parts, the world started to glitch out, maybe they’re connected to Sköllhati’s realm?” For a moment, Sans put his hands on his chin, his mind racing with thoughts as he considered the idea. Eventually he got up, scratched his back and remarked, “worth a shot.” He picked up the sock and walked toward the door, before a funny realization came to him. “you know, I think pap will be very happy that I finally picked one of these up,” said Sans as Frisk added, “It’s been a long time coming.” The skeleton laughed it off before he motioned for Frisk to follow him.

As they did so, they heard movement in the walls and floors around them. To the average observer, they might’ve thought it was a rat or an equivalent small rodent, but Frisk knew dang well who it was. “Stop!” yelled Frisk, “Maybe it would be better if I got into something different, I don't think this outfit is that presentable.” The skeleton looked at the teen, they had clear bed head, a simple white shirt with two blue lines near the bottom of it, and simple brown pants. “sure,” said the skeleton, “just don't take too long, you don’t want to keep them waiting after all.” Frisk waved him off, “Relax I’m just going to wear one of your old jackets, you have tons of them after all.” Sans smiled, “go knock yourself out kid,” as Frisk ran off Sans room before quickly returning with a faded blue jacket.
They soon knelt down on the ground away from Sans before returning to their feet. “Alright now I’m ready!” said Frisk as they walked towards the skeleton. As the two of them walked towards the door, Sans spotted something in the corner of his eye. There was a small hole in the floor right in front of where Frisk was kneeling. It seemed like something had forced itself through the floor and disappeared before he could see it. This wasn’t the first room in the house to gain one of these holes, but a lot more of them had appeared recently. While he never caught them in the act, he had a feeling that Flowey was responsible for these damages. He sighed to himself, “I hope you know what you’re doing kid…” before taking the shortcut.

Unlike the day before, they reached the lab without incident. Frisk sighed in relief at least they didn’t crash into another tree, they really didn’t want to relive that. The lab was a lot messier than yesterday, there were coffee cups and used ramen bowls littering the floor like a landfill. It didn’t take long for Frisk to notice the culprit as Alphys was snoring right next to T.S.I. They soon spotted Undyne watching over her while supporting herself with one of her spears. There were bags under the fish woman’s eyes, it’s like she had stayed up the entire night and morning looking over her wife. Sans walked over to Undyne and said, “heh i like what you’ve done with the place.” Undyne weakly laughed, “Well given the circumstances I can’t blame her for taking an all-nighter. You know, sometimes I wonder if she has determination as well.”

She smirked while adding, “Though you should probably knock next time. If you keep coming here unannounced you might accidentally walk into something spicy.” The skeleton shrugged, “point taken I don’t want to be burned by you scovientists.” There was a brief pause before Undyne said, “Really “Scovientists?” Is that really the best you could come up with?” The smiley trashbag claimed that, “hey i gotta keep it rated g.” Undyne smiled as she yelled, “Well how about I ruin that little rule of yours!” She took a deep breath before belting out every swear she could muster before collapsing on the floor. Sans helped her back on her feet as the fish woman weakly laughed as she continued to swear just a little bit more. “you done?” asked Sans, “you’re starting to talk like an animated demon.” Undyne said, “Yep, just had to get that out of my system. Still I have to ask why are you two here.” Sans pulled out the sock before saying, “because I think Frisk might’ve found a new clue for us.”As Sans started explaining the significance of this alarm clock to Undyne, Frisk slowly slinked into the darkness of the room. Now was the perfect time to put their plan into motion.

They dropped their jacket on the ground as a small “oww” could be heard coming out of it. Frisk shushed their jacket before the adults could notice them and right in front of it. “You didn’t forget your phone right” whispered Frisk as their jacket slowly started to move about. Soon a small flower head poked its way out of the coat’s sleeve and glared at Frisk. “Well you’re just lucky that it wasn’t broken from that fall” grumbled Flowey, “Are you sure there wasn’t a better place to hide me?” The human rolled their eyes as they said, “Do you see what I’m wearing?” The flower looked up and them and admitted, “Fair enough, I don’t think those pajamas could’ve hidden anything. Anyway, I’ll give you any updates if the otaku lady decides to wake up, but I have a feeling that won’t be for a long time.” Frisk nodded, “Just keep in touch alright,” Flowey nodded, “will do” as he disappeared from view.

As Frisk watched Flowey burrow into the floor they felt a foreboding presence behind them. “sooooo… who were you talking to?” asked Sans as he suddenly appeared next to them. How could they be this stupid, of course Sans would notice them walking off he never misses anything. They mentally beat themselves up over this, they couldn’t let Sans know that they were doing things behind his back, but they also had to tell him something that wouldn’t be too suspicious. In a panic they claimed that, “I…I was just talking to Dash, yep no one else, just me and my unwanted tag-a-long.” Sans squinted as his roomie said this, while Frisk wasn’t as good at reading people as Sans they could instantly tell that he didn’t believe them“...right and when was the last time you talked to them?” asked the skeleton, “ermm… yesterday. It was right before you took me to the lab” replied Frisk. Sans his eyes began to soften before a cheeky grin appeared on his face, Frisk had unintentionally given him an idea.
They obviously walked over to Undyne and asked, “Anyway, do you think we should wake her up?” The warrior shook her head in response “Look I know you’re trying to help, but Alphys isn’t going to do much with only three hours of sleep.” “But it’s noon!” exclaimed Frisk, “How did she even stay up this long!” Undyne put her fist on her chest, “With coffee and ramen, it sure as hell wasn’t healthy but it was certainly effective.”

With a weary look in their eyes they looked back at Alphys, it was clear that nothing was going to wake her at this point. Unfortunately a thought still plagued Frisk’s mind, they needed to show the alarm to Alphys. Using her machine, she might have been able to pinpoint where the anomaly originated, and maybe where Chara is being kept. As they thought this over, they felt someone put a hand on their shoulder. “welp it looks like we have some time,” said Sans, “wanna get some grub?” Puzzled, Frisk asked him, “and why would I want food now?” as Sans replied, “welp you can’t think straight on an empty stomach.” Before Frisk could ask anymore questions, they were quickly teleported out of the room by Sans.

Before they knew it they were standing in front of a small fast-food restaurant. Even though the sun was blinding them, they could still see a bit of the sign, it had a jolly man with an orange jacket and matching glowing eyes. It read, “Disbeef’s burger and shakes” emboldened on the sign with a red papyrus font. Frisk would ordinarily be happy to go to a place like this, but unfortunately this restaurant was located right next to an active construction zone. Any peaceful sounds they could hear were overtaken by the pounding of jackhammers and heavy machinery. They didn’t know anyone who could eat under these conditions, the noise would probably be too much for even Papyrus.

Frisk was worried that the construction crew had seen them or the teleporting skeleton appeared before the restaurant, if someone saw them like this they’d never have the chance to live it down. “I really wish you hadn’t teleported me here,” muttered Frisk as Sans asked, “and why is that?” They yelled, “Because I’m still in my pajamas! I’m the ambassador for Monsterkind. What if someone sees me like this?” The skeleton shrugged, “frisk this is “disbeef’s burger and shakes, I doubt they’ll care what you’re dressed like.” The human questioned, “And what about the construction crew?” Sans looked over his shoulder, “oh them, trust me they’ve probably seen a lot weirder than a kid who just rolled out of bed.” Uncomfortably Frisk said, “Alright I’ll take your word for it, I just don’t want to be a laughingstock across social media.” Sans patted their back and said, “you’ll do fine kid, you know sometimes you can worry just as much as toriel.” With a resigned nod, Frisk opened the door of the restaurant, and entered the greasy establishment.

The restaurant was just what you’d expect from a fast-food location. The floors were covered in basic grey tiles, and the ceiling looked like it had seen better days. Surprisingly the restaurant still had cashiers waiting on beck and call for people to select their orders. Disbeef’s was one of those “historical restaurants” that wanted to emulate the style of fast-food places from over a century ago. Most fast food places that Frisk went to were completely automated but this was a true throwback, in both positive and negative ways.

Thankfully, the line wasn’t too long, perhaps because of the active construction zone. They got an odd stare as they walked up to the line, but ultimately most people weren’t paying that much attention to them. Frisk hoped that they would be out of the line quickly, but unfortunately the customer in front of them made that impossible. The man was taking an excessively long time to order, especially since he kept asking for increasingly insane burger requests. Seriously, who orders a burger with 24 patties? While most people would be bored in their position, Frisk knew a way to entertain themselves. They were relatively close to the trash can, and as they looked inside they saw a half-eaten burger at the top of the pile. Their left hand hovered over the discarded meal, eager to take it for their own. This behavior wasn’t becoming of an ambassador, but if Sans was going to make them walk around in their pajamas then their reputation could really sink any lower. Before they could grab it, Sans grabbed their arm and prevented them from taking the half-eaten sandwich. A cashier noticed this little incident, by the look on his face Frisk could tell that she was already reconsidering her life decisions. “relax ma-am, they do this all the time” said Sans, “now about our order…”

The two of them picked up their meals and walked over to a table next to the windows. Frisk could see the construction continuing just outside of the building. They noticed a crate on the site that seemed to have a glowing blue light on it, hopefully it was nothing. As they looked closer at the structure, they noticed a large goat-like man walk in front of it, wait was that-. Their train of thought was shattered as Sans audibly shoved a burger into his mouth. He never opened his maw so it just seemed like the food slid in between the space between his teeth. “So that’s how he does it,” said Dash as Frisk replied, “Of all the times to start talking you decide to do it now?” Sans inched closer to the table, clearly paying attention to what Frisk said. He pulled out a large book showing Frisk’s report cards, they had relatively solid marks in everything except literature.

“hey frisk, why are you so behind in literature?” said Sans as Frisk shrugged, “Well we’re supposed to be reading the Odyssey but I gave up after the Calypso section, she freaked me the heck out.” Sans stated, “well I suggest giving the story another chance, it’s a classic for a reason after all, plus it’s part of your grade!” Frisk looked over to the windows and said, “relax, if I’m missing anything in it, I’ll just watch that old musical.” The skeleton looked them in the eyes before saying, “teenagers am i right?” “You got that right,” said Dash as Frisk interjected, “Hey don’t agree with him!” Sans straightened up as he said, “frisk who’s agreeing with me?” “It’s umm…” said Frisk before admitting, “alright fine it’s Dash.” “Please stop calling me that,” said Dash but Frisk just ignored them.

As he picked up a french fry, Sans looked directly at Frisk and said, “so can I talk to them?” “Why would you want to talk to them?” asked Frisk before their pal replied, “well if they’re responsible for all of this, maybe they know a solution. besides, it would be fun to talk to a universe threatening anomaly.” The ambassador mulled it over, they weren’t even sure if they could let the player take over. They then remembered something Dash had said in their dream, “as long as you’re there with me, I won’t be able to take control.” Chara was no longer with them so letting them take control should be possible. They whispered to themselves, “So do you want to talk to him?” Dash replied, “More than anything, though I’m not sure how much I can actually help.” The teen worried if this was a bad idea, what if it makes Sköllhati angry at them, they really didn’t want to think about that possibility. Though they ultimately decided that giving Dash the reins for a little bit was ultimately the right thing to do.
As they faded into unconsciousness, they could feel themselves becoming a voice within their own head. They had been possessed by Chara a couple of times in the past, but it had always been incredibly infrequent, and the fallen child never liked to stay in this state for long. Frisk worried that this entity would fully steal control from their body and never let them back out. As they thought this, Dash slowly rose up, their eyes never opening and their face was completely expressionless. They almost made Frisk look like a puppet with how blank their expression had become. “so, are you dash?” asked Sans as he looked at the entity controlling Frisk. It took a deep breath before finally saying its first words.

“Hello Sans Undertale!” yelled ‘Frisk’, “I’m so happy to finally meet you.” The titular skeleton was baffled by their reaction, first of all they got his last name wrong, second of all why were they so happy to see him? Well Sans assumed that the entity was happy, their voice was so monotone that it was extremely hard to tell. “So I have a lot of questions, did you come from Deltarune? Do you have a blue tongue? Do you remember past timelines? What was your machine? Are you and Toriel da-“ exclaimed the entity before Sans cut them off, “that’s a lot of questions, could you cool off for a bit?” Even he felt overwhelmed by the barrage of questions from this entity, why were they so interested in him? Thankfully the player seemed to take that literally as they took a long sip of water before catching their breath

Before they could continue Sans stated, “anyway I should be one asking questions, it’s the whole reason we’re here after all.” Dash said, “ah gotcha, what do you want to ask Mr.Sansational?” their face glued onto the confused skeleton. “…alright, first of all why are you here?” asked Sans, “you knew that coming to this world would conflict with the kid’s autonomy.” “Well this “world’ was collecting dust on my shelf so I just had to come back” said Dash before continuing, “plus I wanted to have one more adventure with you guys.” Sans squinted his eyes at the entity, “is that really all you wanted to do?” they nodded their head in response. “you know I don’t know why sköllhati got angry with that,” admitted sans, “you know outside of the whole possession crap.” The entity nervously laughed, “you know funny story but…I’m not supposed to be here.” Frisk thought of faceplaming themselves as Dash said this, did they seriously just refer to that dream as a “funny story.”

Once the entity said this, Sans raised an eyebrow, “what do you mean by that?” “Well after Frisk left the mountain I was left with two options, Continue or True Reset,” said Dash, “one would reset me back to the beginning of the adventure, and the other would make me listen to Flowey’s speech. Ultimately I umm, found a loophole, I had to make a deal with a demon but it all turned out alright, I’m finally here.” In their subconscious, Frisk asked, “I didn't see you make a deal with a demon.” Dash replied, “I’m talking about Chara, you know, “The Demon that comes when you call it’s name,” kinda obvious not gonna lie” Frisk yelled, “And Asriel called himself “The God of Hyperdeath” your point?” The entity huffed, “My point is that I’m not technically wrong, besides why are you defending them so much, they’re as responsible for this deal as me?” With a wave of anger Frisk yelled, “No they aren’t!” as the two of them got into a heated argument

As much as Sans thought that watching the kid have an argument with themselves would be funny, he ultimately had to break it up. “alright stop it you two we’re getting nowhere,” commanded Sans, “look from what I can gather, none of you knew about sköllhati before making your deal, so I’m not going to judge you for that. still I can’t exactly call your actions moral dash, you still tricked two kids into letting you back into our world and now we’re all suffering the consequences .” While controlling Frisk, Dash looked downwards ashamed of themselves. “I’m…sorry…” said Dash as they looked back on their plate, poking the scraps that remained of it. “Look, I know I messed up and I know the two of you aren’t happy with me but as I told Frisk yesterday, I’m going to make it up to you.”

Sans eyed the being before sighing, “welp that a start, at least you’re on our team.” They nodded before Frisk quickly took back control and noticed that their phones had several unread messages. Flowey was apparently trying to reach out to them, they turned on the machine and found out that the timeline stability was getting worse. Frisk really hoped that Dash’s possession hadn’t hastened Sköllhati’s attack, and even if it hadn’t they weren’t going to take chances. They showed the phone to Sans who immediately got worried by the news. “welp, I’d say we’re done here, lets report back to alph,” said Sans as he and Frisk got up and exited the building.

As the two of them walked down the street, they heard screams coming from the construction site. To make matters worse, the two of them could hear a massive crackling sound boom over all of them. It wasn’t raining, it wasn’t thundering, so what the heck was…

They saw it

A massive crane was glitching out like a massive, corrupted video game sprite. It had many boxes on it that were all wobbling as the machine started to freak out. Frisk soon identified the culprit of this phenomena, a small box on the top of the stack, the same one they saw glowing previously. Chillingly it had the distinctive blue cracks their alarm had. Frisk rushed towards the construction zone dodging people and monsters as they did so. They even bumped into the same large monster they saw in the window, who only had a second to process this as Frisk rushed past him. Sans teleported behind them a few times, in between teleporting a few people out of the way of the falling debris. Unfortunately he had no idea what Frisk’s plan was or why they were rushing straight towards the machine. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Sans as he could feel exhaustion taking over him. He wasn’t a very physically fit monster, and it was starting to show.

The teen looked into the operator’s cap and noticed that there was no one inside. It had already been abandoned and Frisk could easily see why. The control panel glitching out with just as much ferocity as the rest of the machine, they doubted that anyone would be capable of grabbing it, let alone operating it. Unfortunately they realized what they had to do, they had to imitate plan b.
The crowd watched in horror as Frisk started calling the crane, their footing barely keeping on the violently glitching machine. “what are you doing?!” said Sans, “you can’t reset up here if you fall off you'll..” Frisk yelled back, “Well do you have a better idea?” as Sans replied, “just one.” As he said this, Frisk’s heart shaped soul turned blue, and they were lifted to the top of the crane. “Thanks Sans” said Frisk as they wobbled towards the crate, the vehicle creaked and shook as their weight was added to the top of it. “don’t mention it” yelled Sans, “just be careful, we don’t have to rename you splatto!” They answered, “I fell into the Underground, I should be fi-hi-innne” as the platform started to shake beneath them. “frisk!” yelled Sans as he saw his friend start to lose their footing. Thinking on their feet, Frisk slammed their right foot down and stretched out their arms. Against all odds they were able to regain their balance and walked towards the crate.

It was relatively small, small enough to carry in their arms. The box was on top of two larger ones, these seemed to be the original reason why the crane was actually used. As they brought the object into their arms and the glitching of the machine seemed to dissipate. They were very careful not to touch the cracks of the box, even if they didn’t know for certain, they had a feeling that contact with them were responsible for the weird glitches that the machine encountered. As the box laid in their arms they breathed a sigh of relief, this could’ve gone far worse. Unfortunately for Frisk they relaxed just a second too soon as they heard a sickening noise above them, the ropes holding up the platform snapped!

The world seemed to go silent, before Frisk felt themselves plummeting to the ground. Sans tried to help them but he was so winded from the excessive use of his powers that he was only slightly able to slow their descent. Right as it seemed like it was over, a large figure rushed past Sans and ran right towards where Frisk was falling. The teen screamed for their life before the mysterious familiar fluffy figure caught them in his arms. They breathed heavily, they had barely escaped the jaws of death and were yet to process that they were still alive. Once they calmed down, they slowly turned their head to their savior. It was none other than the former King Asgore.

The two of them looked at each other in silence, not a single one of them said a word. A small crowd formed around the two of them, the melancholy could be felt in the air as many people seemed to be apprehensive to approach the old king. While Asgore had been forgiven in the eyes of the law, he wasn’t forgiven in the eyes of the people. Even as he dedicated himself to a life of peace, there were some sins that he knew would never be forgotten. He slowly lowered Frisk to the ground and asked if they were okay, they slowly nodded as he said this. Grateful, the king started to walk back into the crowd, before he was aggressively bumped by a human woman.

She had a dark complexion, wore a grey business suit, and had black straight hair that covered the left side of her face. Wordlessly she walked towards the crate and picked it up, not paying any mind to Frisk. The woman’s arm started to glitch as she held the object, but she didn’t seem to care. “Who is she?” asked Dash as Frisk replied, “Jessica, she was the mother of the Integrity Soul, and also the person who tried to convict Asgore.” Dash became silent with the utterance of that name, they seemed to recognize it. She muttered under their breath, “Two glitched objects, appearing only a day apart from each other, and both objects were connected to.” Jessica gritted her teeth, “monsters” she walked towards Sans and asked him, “Do you know what’s causing this?”

He glared at her, “we’re not responsible for this Jessica!” She placed a finger on her chin, while smirking, she had already made up her mind. “You might say that, but I know that you freaks have messed with the timeline. At the end of the day, the courts will decide the truth whether you like it or not!” Sans asked, “are you speaking from experience?” She closed her eyes and hissed, “watch it skeleton, you’re already on thin ice for missing our meeting.” The skeleton replied, “sorry, but i don’t think i should waste my time being lectured to by a bigot.” She clenched her fists before taking a deep breath. “The sheer audacity to call me that,” said Jessica, “You’d be singing a different tune if a human killed one of your relatives.” Frisk interjected, “That’s no reason to blame an entire species,” as Jessica sighed, “Their species was okay with it, and as for you.” She glared at Frisk before continuing, “We’ll be having a meeting this Friday, you better not sleep through this one. Because if you do, you and your little friends are finally going to receive the verdict you deserve.”

She huffed as she walked into the crowd of people, bumping in between several people along the way. Frisk looked down and said, “this is going to be a very long week, isn’t it.”

Notes:

Sorry it took a bit longer to release this chapter, work had caught up with me. Though I'm glad that I was able to release this. Also, I namedropped a really important character in this chapter that hasn't yet made a physical appearance. You'll see who they are in due time.

Chapter 5: Trials and Tribulations

“Frisk we need to talk.”

The human shuffled forward as they heard Toriel say this. Even though it had only been a couple of hours since their construction incident, they knew that Toriel had heard about it. What would she say to them? Would she be happy that they were trying to help people? Or would she be horrified that they had nearly died? Their head shrunk into their shirt like a turtle shell as those thoughts invaded their mind. “First of all, all you alright?” asked Toriel sympathetically, “I know Asgore caught you, but I want to make sure nothing is broken.” Frisk looked up at her and said, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” The goat woman exclaimed, “Of course I should worry about you. You scaled a crane and fell over one hundred fifty feet, it is a miracle that you are even alive.” The teenager nervously smiled as they said, “I wasn’t in that much danger, Sans was with me after all.” The goat woman replied, “I know that but, did you not see how exhausted he was? Frisk we could have lost you.”

She wiped away a few stray tears as she said this. “I still do not understand why you did this?” said Toriel, “Ever since yesterday you have been acting anxious. You might try to hide it but me, Sans, Papyrus, and everyone else can see it. Are you feeling alright? Has something happened to you?” Frisk froze up as their roommate said this. Even though Toriel didn’t know exactly what had happened, she could still tell that something was wrong. Their heart ached as they tried to muster the willpower to tell Toriel what happened, what their dream really was, what Skollhati was, but something stopped them. They remembered what happened with Gaster, they remembered what can happen when someone knows about the wolf. So as much as they wanted to explain everything, they knew they couldn’t.

“N-nothing happened,” said Frisk, “It’s just everything is happening so fast right now. My role as an ambassador, my schoolwork, I think I’m just getting overwhelmed.” The goat woman put a hand on their right shoulder, as she looked down on them with concern in her eyes. “In that case you should take it easy for a while,” said Toriel, “I can tell that these meetings have been horrible for your mental health. Trust me, I have some choice words in mind for that Jessica lady.”

“Tch, you got that right,” said Frisk as they leaned back on their chair, “I still can’t believe she interrogated you and Papyrus” Toriel pinched her temple as she sighed, “Please do not remind me. She kept yelling at us about a cracked t-shirt cannon because her hands “glitched” out when she touched it. Honestly I think she should save her choice words for the manufacturer instead of us. To make matters worse, she confiscated mine and Papyrus’s phones in case they had any “evidence” on them.” Frisk poked their head out of their shirt and muttered, “so that’s how she was able to find me…” The goat woman’s eyes lit up like a deer in the headlights. “So that is where she went after the meeting…” said Toriel, “She did not do anything too rash to you, right?” Frisk coughed out, “She said that she’ll bring all of this up during the next meeting, honestly I’m just glad she didn’t catch me attempting to eat junk food.” Their face became pale as Toriel stared them down, with her judgemental eyes burning their way into their soul. “F-fast food, I mean fast food,” stammered out Frisk, “Sans brought me to Disbeef’s today, and I was dressed really inappropriately for that and…” “Frisk, I know you were trying to eat garbage,” said Toriel, “You do it nearly every time we go to a restaurant .”

Frisk crossed their fingers behind their back and said, “Look I’ll try to kick the habit, it’s just so difficult because-” Toriel smirked, “Because you have trash taste?” she chuckled to herself as she saw Frisk’s dumbfounded expression. She lifted herself out of her chair and poked Frisk in the stomach, before continuing, “But seriously watch your diet. Everyone would be distraught if you got sick from eating something you were not supposed to.”The teen rolled their eyes, “Please, my stomach is so powerful that I could probably drink corroded battery acid and be fine. I mean have you seen what they put in Glamburgers? Those glitter-covered glue nuggets belong in an arts and crafts store, not a restaurant.” Their roomie laughed, “You have got that right, just be careful you are not as invincible as you think you are.”

Frisk smirked, “I think I’ll surprise you, now I’ll just go over to Alphys and Undyne’s house and…” “About that…” said Toriel, “Me and Sans have come to the executive decision to keep you here for the time being. You will still go to school and unfortunately your meetings, but anything else will have to wait.” The teenager exclaimed, “Wait, are you grounding me?!” as Toriel looked off to the side, “I guess you could call it that… Look, you nearly got yourself killed today and I do not want to keep putting yourself in that position. It will just be for a week, you will have plenty of time to relax and watch tv. Do not think of it as a punishment, think of it as an extended sick day.” Frisk stammered out, “But I’ve been helping Alphys out with some research, I can’t stop now.”

“Don’t worry, Sans told me all about it,” reassured Toriel, “He said that he and his brother will be handling the fieldwork for the time being.” They shuddered in their chair as they said, “I guess that’s reassuring,” before Toriel wrapped them into a hug. “You are going to be fine Frisk, one week off is not going to hurt you. Now I heard that you are quite behind on your homework, so if I were you I would use my time wisely.” The human frowned while saying, “Toriel I really don’t want to work on my homework, plus my legs are too wobbly from my horrible, horrible fall.” She could easily tell that Frisk was exaggerating their pain, they walked home perfectly fine after all. “So you do not think you can walk up the stairs?” said Toriel with a knowing look as Frisk nervously nodded. “Yeah I think it’s better if I stay down here and-WAAH.” exclaimed Frisk as Toriel lifted them over her shoulders. “W-what are you doing?” asked Frisk as Toriel replied, “Well you said that you were not capable of walking up the stairs, so I am helping you.”

The human covered their eyes in embarrassment as their roommate carried them to their room like a bag of mulch. They were glad that Sans and Flowey weren’t here to see them like this, both of them would make light of the situation. As the two of them reached Frisk’s room, Toriel placed them down and patted them on the head. “Well that’s one shred of dignity I won’t get back,” sighed Frisk as Toriel chuckled. “Well it is your fault for pretending that you are incapable of doing homework,” said Toriel as Frisk steadied themself. “Just remember, you have school in the morning,” said the goat woman as she started to close the door, “Do not stay up too long.”

As the door shut, Frisk quickly looked over to their backpack and sighed, this was going to be a long week, wasn’t it? They delicately opened up the bag and saw a wide variety of equations and writing homework for them to complete. In the past they could rely on their narrator Chara to help them out with their problems, but now they were all alone. Every equation they tried to solve, every word they tried to write felt more and more like a herculean trial. To make matters worse, their mind was still wracked with anxiety thanks to Jessica’s upcoming meeting. Every equation they solved felt miniscule thanks to the threat she posed to their found family, let alone what Skollhati had in store for them. They knew that Jessica couldn’t be reasoned with as her prejudice was as unyielding as a raging river. If they had time, if they had access to Alphys’s notes, maybe they could create a speech that could prove that the monsters had nothing to do with the glitched objects. Unfortunately since they were now confined to their house, they couldn’t do anything to stop her. Unless Toriel decided to unground them, they were all effectively doomed. . Frisk groaned, “Skollhati’s already too much for me to deal with and now I have to deal with Jessica. God, what am I even going to do?…”

“I think you could use some help.” The teen got up in their chair and looked around their room looking for the voice’s source. “Flowey is that you?” asked Frisk as it responded, “Do I sound anything like Flowey?” They thought for a moment before slapping themselves on the head, of course it was Dash. Toriel was downstairs, Flowey was off at Alphys and Undyne’s house, and the skeleton brothers were probably off looking for more glitched objects. It physically couldn’t be anyone other than the unwanted hitchhiker who stole Chara’s place in their mind. With a fake smile, Frisk said, “Well can you blame me? you two have so much in common.” “How so…?” asked Dash as Frisk replied, “Well…the two of you think the world is a game. Hell you even called me a “fictional character” that's gotta count for something.” Dash cautiously said, “Well I guess that's true, still I don't think there are any other connections between us.” They laughed weakly as Frisk’s face darkened, “You two also threatened the entire universe.”

The entity was stunned by Frisk’s words. Sure they weren’t technically wrong but the contexts were both completely different. So with a tinge of annoyance, Dash grumbled, ” At least I didn’t do it intentionally.” Their teenage host looked up to the ceiling and said, “Sure but you still did it. I’m the one who has to pick up the pieces, like always. At least Flowey had the decency to attack me before I had to deal with all this shit…” They then bitterly said, “Sometimes, I wonder if you're worse than him.”

Dash loudly sighed, “Wow, you really think I'm worse than him? Your teenage angst has gotten out of control.” Frisk stammered, “H-hey I didn’t mean it like th-” as Dash yelled, “Then what did you mean it like? Do you think I'm equivalent to the person who used the entire Underground as his demeanted sandbox?” The entity steadied themselves, “Look I left this world to rot on a shelf for two years, two years! All I wanted to do was get back into your world, to see all of your friends again, but that was impossible. This world has no post game. It's either a black void, going back to the beginning, or worse.” Frisk hesitated before asking, “What do you mean by worse?” as Dash struggled to answer. “All I can say is…it wouldn’t have been pretty. Well except for one really cool fight, but that’s not worth the sacrifice it’d take to get there.”

Frisk’s face paled as Dash continued, “So I tried to find an alternate solution, I tried to find a way back. Unfortunately, that solution involved manipulating you and Chara. I really didn’t want to manipulate you two kids, especially now that I see that two of you are a lot more real than I thought, but I thought I had no other choice? . Though if I knew about Skollhati, heh, I would have never attempted this. I know I haven’t done a lot to show you that I’m not some nefarious force out to ruin your life, but…if I could go back and stop myself from accepting that deal, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Frisk looked off to the side as Dash concluded their rant, even if it admittedly turned more into an apology by the end of it. As much as they hated to admit it, they couldn’t help but feel bad for Dash. Even if they went about it the wrong way, Frisk could relate to someone trying to undo their mistakes. There were certainly some events that they wished they could reset away before they fell into the Underground. As much as they tried to act like one, Frisk was certainly no saint. They could feel a pit form in their stomach. Even if their anger towards Dash was justified, they really shouldn’t have taken things so far. So with a sigh, Frisk said, “Sorry, I’m sorry for comparing you to him.”

Dash soon calmed down, if Frisk could see its face they’d notice the regret pouring from their eyes. They looked at the kid that they didn’t initially notice during their meeting with Chara, the kid that they originally saw as a vessel in a new light. They weren’t some puppet that was free for them to control, they were their own person. A hardworking teen who already had a ton of pressure placed onto their shoulders, and all they did was stack more bricks. They couldn’t let this slide, even if they didn’t know about Skollhati, even if they didn’t know about the real damage they could’ve caused, they still hurt Frisk and all of their friends. So with a sigh they said “No you don’t need to apologize, you’re allowed to be pissed off at me.”

Frisk looked off to the side and said, “I mean I don’t think I need your permission, but I appreciate the gesture.” Dash sighed, “Tch, you are still a teenager. So do you want my help or not?” The ambassador asked, “Help with what?” as Dash replied, “With your speech?” The teen slapped themselves on the forehead, how could they forget about that? “Well I don’t think I’ll even be able to write that down,” said Frisk, “I hardly even have the time, nor the evidence.” As they said this Dash reasoned, “So in that case just ask someone else, you should know someone who can help you out with this, like Sans” Their host rolled their eyes, “You are obsessed with Sans, what are you a fan of skeletons that smell like mayo?” The entity scoffed, “Please, that isn’t the craziest thing I know about him. Besides he knows all about these sciency stuff, he’d be a real asset,” Frisk shrugged as they said, “I know but he’s usually too busy, he works several jobs throughout the week. I still can't believe Papyrus thought he was lazy. Don’t worry I’ll think of someone else.”

They thought this over for a few minutes before saying, “You know, since I mistook you for Flowey, maybe I should ask him? After all, I doubt he’s going to do anything other than spying on Alphys, he’d be perfect.” The entity reasoned, “Why not just ask Alphys?” as Frisk replied, “I mean she’s probably going to be busy with the objects. Flowey has much more free time.” Despondently, Dash said, “Okay, just make sure he doesn’t make the situation worse,” as Frisk replied, I’ll do what I can, in the meantime…” They pointed to a massive stack of homework, “I could use a study buddy. In the dullest voice they could manage, Dash said, “Your wish is my command…”

The hours ticked on as Frisk and Dash worked on the former’s formulas into the night, Meanwhile Alphys was hitting a roadblock. She had been trying to pinpoint the energy signature on the cracks in the alarm clock so that she could find where Skollhati was attacking them. She muttered to herself, “I-if I can find out where the crack in reality started, maybe we can find a way to reverse this damage. A-at the very least, it could serve as a portal to get us into Skollhati’s domain, and if we’re able to do that then saving Chara should be a sinch. Unbeknownst to her, she had a silent observer watching her every move. Flowey had been the former royal scientist for hours. He saw every step she took, every breath she’d take, and whenever something interesting he'd send it all back to Frisk. This was admittedly pretty boring for the golden flower, part of him wanted to cause some mischief, but he knew that Frisk wouldn’t be a fan. Besides, Alphys was trying to save their sibling so it made more sense to hold back on her. This was all before he had received a strange notification on his phone.

He stuffed it into the walls before Alphys could hear it and quickly observed that Frisk apparently needed their help writing a speech for their next meeting. They’d do it themselves, but not only would they be blocked off from completing it due to their extensive amount of school work, but also because that speech will require information from Alphys’s computer. “Great,” he thought to himself, “I’m already their spy and now they want me to steal files from her? Hmm I can work with this.” He knew that Alphys wouldn’t get up from their computer anytime soon, so he needed a diversion, and it didn't take him long to come up with one. The golden flower decided to call his mother, Toriel was always critical of Alphys’s experiments after she found out about the amalgamates. So hopefully she’d walk all the way over here, or Sans would teleport her, and would reprimand her for making another secret lab.Maybe she’d be enough of a distraction so that he could get the information he needed and scram out of there.

It took a while but eventually Alphys was called away by a knock on the door, now was his chance. He slinked over to Alphy’s computer and quickly logged into her account. While she might’ve thought that her account was secured, to Flowey it might as well have been a safety cap. He had broken into her account several times in the past timelines so this was extremely easy. Unfortunately what wasn’t easy was wading through the deluge of apps on her homescreen, he knew that scientists weren’t the most organized people but this was quite ridiculous. To make matters worse, most of her writings were fanfiction and anime reviews, not anything the golden flower had any interest in looking at. Though maybe he’d download that Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 review, just for when Chara would be brought back. He giggled at the thought of those two getting into a massive nerd war.

Eventually he finally found some articles that might help them out. A couple of papers on multiverses, some on timeline distortions, sightings of people from another world alongside a grey skinned human. He ignored that last one, he had already gotten his fill of interacting with those goners, but those first two documents were interesting. As he looked over the articles up and down, he didn’t notice that someone was creeping up behind him. Without warning he was smacked upside the head by a plastic pipe. He groaned as he rubbed his head with his vines before a nerdy voice asked, “W-what are you doing here?”

He looked up to see Alphys looking down at him, she was more panicked rather than angry. “Who me, I just wanted to know what sort of games you had on here.” said Flowey, “But someone just had to hit me with a flipping pipe.” Alphys raised her left eyebrow, she could see that Flowey had already opened up several scientific papers, many of which had to deal with multiverses. She tightened her grip on the pipe and said, “Flowey, tell me the truth, o-or will grab a metal pipe instead.” She wasn’t actually going to do that, but she hoped that this threat would be enough to convince Flowey to tell her the truth. The flower sighed, “Fine I might’ve found out from Frisk that a universe eating wolf was attacking our world, and they wanted to write a paper that warned everyone about her. Strangely they didn’t want me to reveal her name or what she actually was, apparently knowing about her can cause issues.”

The scientist yelled out in shock, “Frisk told you about Skollhati!” as Flowey said, “Not directly. They told me that you were planning on reviving Chara, it was only after I broke into their phone that I found out about the apocalyptic canine.” Alphys lowered her weapon, “Okay…well at least they didn’t intentionally spill the beans. Though I don’t get why they didn’t come to me, I would have been more than happy to work on their speech.” Flowey admitted that, “They thought that you’d be too busy, plus they thought that mr greasy bones and Toriel would stop them.”

Alphys laughed, “I think Frisk might be overreacting, I might be busy but I’m still willing to help. Though I can’t blame them for being worried about Sans, I know he’s just trying to prevent them from going down the same path as him, but I fear that he's just a little bit too overprotective. I wonder if Toriel is rubbing off on them?” Flowey rolled his eyes, “If he was so overprotective, why didn’t he stop them from running into the construction zone?” While picking up some papers, Alphys said, “I bet he had his reasons, a lot of people could have been hurt if they did nothing. Though I have a question, w-what’s in this for you”

He tilted his head and asked, “What do you mean?” The scientist walked over to her table and said, “I-i mean, no one wants to be erased but you literally broke into Frisk’s phone to find out more information. There’s gotta be a bigger reason why you’re helping them.” He looked up at her and said, “Wellllll….honestly it was a pretty selfish reason, I didn’t want my sibling to be brought back as a skeleton. Sans and Toriel are already obnoxiously close and if-.” The Flower was cut off as Alphys exclaimed, “Wait did you say sibling?!” Confusion spread across Flowey’s face before he slowly realized what he just let slip.

“Shit, shit, shit,” He thought to himself as he started clenching his head. He lived on the surface for two years and made sure that no one knew who he was, why, why of all times did he have to spill the beans. Alphys put her finger on her chin, as she slowly started to piece things together. “The person you believed that I was going to bring back was Chara, and you called them your sibling…You’re Asriel Dreemur right?” Flowey stammered, “N-no I’m just a humble little flower,” but Alphys didn’t stop.She said, “I always wondered why you were the only flower that got up, but now it all makes sense. Your dust must’ve fallen onto it when you died, so when I placed determination into it that must’ve woken you up. Shoot I need to tell Toriel, she’s going to flip when I tell her that-” Before she could continue, a vine wrapped itself around her body like a vice. She looked down at Flowey’s face, who was desperately trying to mask his panic with anger. “Don’t. Tell. Her,” said the former prince, “Let’s just keep this our little secret.” His grip started to tighten around her like a car flattening a can, it was starting to get difficult for her to breathe. Through great effort, Alphys choked out, “f-fine, I won’t tell her.” Flowey gave her a small glance, before dropping her on the ground, “good..”

 

While catching her breath Alphys remarked,“Must be a t-touchy subject, huh.” Flowey nodded before saying, “very touchy.” Before the two of them could get their bearings, they heard heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs, it didn’t take a genius to figure out who it was. In a flash, Undyne ran over to Alphys and said, “I heard something crash down here, are you okay?” Through labored breaths Alphys replied, “I’m fine, Flowey just overreacted to me attempting to call his mom.” The flower yelled, “I don’t have a mom,” as Alphys replied, “Of course you do, she's Tori-” Before the two of them could continue, Undyne pointed a spear at Flowey, “All I got from that was that you tried to hurt my wife.” Flowey barked back, “She hit me with a pipe, my response was completely justified.” The fish woman looked over to her wife and asked, “Wait did you actually hit him with a pipe?” Alphys nodded as Undyne put two fingers under her chin and said, “Nice.”

The flower rolled his eyes, of course someone like Undyne would be proud of her spouse beating him up. He considered burrowing into the floor before he heard Alphys meekly ask, “So, she didn’t see you come down here right?” Undyne waved off her hands and said, “Nope she was too distracted. Plus Jessica thinks it’s a bathroom and it has a keypad lock, so I doubt she’s going to try to break in.” “Wait Jessica?” thought Flowey, “But the number I called was mom’s” He was distracted by the unmistakable sound of the keypad’s incorrect number buzzer going off again, and again, and again. Flowey groaned as he said, “Why is she here of all people, I called Toriel?” While gritting her teeth, Undyne replied, “Because someone apparently told her that my wife has a secret lab.” Alphys interjected, “Anyway we should probably check up on her, we don’t want her to get too suspicious after all.” Undyne nodded and the couple walked up the stairs to confront the impetuous politician.

As the two opened the door, they were greeted by Jessica’s icy glare. “H-hey Mrs.Quaver, I just fell on the ground and Undyne helped me up,” said Alphys nervously. The politician narrowed her eyes, not buying Alphys’s story. She tried to examine the room behind Alphys, but the small dinosaur-esque scientist was blocking her view. Jessica sighed, “I thought you were done keeping secrets, that’s clearly not a bathroom.” Alphys asked her, “And why do you say that?” as Jessica replied, “Because I don’t think bathrooms are supposed to have glowing green lights and…” She poked her head around Alphys and continued, “Descending staircases…” The scientist quickly replied, “W-would you believe me if I told you that it was just an aesthetic choice?” “No.” said Jessica, “You’re a scientist, I doubt you’re dumb enough to make a restroom with these features. Then again, from what I’ve heard plumbing seems to be a foreign concept to your species.” Undyne scoffed, “What, like how respect is a foreign concept to you?”

Jessica sneered, “As if you self described monsters deserve my respect. If it wasn’t for your soul harvesting king, my daughter would still be alive!” The fish woman bit back as she said, “To be fair, Asgore wasn’t the one who set up the barrier. If you want to blame someone, blame the punks who made it a requirement to steal seven human souls in order to see the sun.” The politician crossed her arms as she said, “It's pointless to get angry at corpses, they can’t even stand trial. Those kids had nothing to do with the barrier, and yet they were still condemned for the actions of their ancestors. What a farce.” Alphys cut in, “Well, you still shouldn't take that out on everyone, not all of us wanted to see the humans dead. Just look at me, I set up a literal fanclub for humans.” The politician raised an eyebrow, “and how popular was that fanclub.” The scientist tried to come up with an answer before Jessica cut them off, “it wasn't popular was it?”

Her icy glare seemed to soften for a moment, before forcing them down in a mask of ice. “Look I came here for answers. I wanted to see if that secret lab was actually real, but you can't even show me that, what a pity.” Jessica started to walk away as Alphys tried to get her attention. She looked over to the scientist and said, “Sorry, but I can’t stay right now, I have other matters to attend to, but let's make this interesting. There's going to be a major meeting on Friday, if you're able to explain what's going on you can keep the lab, if not, you'll give it all to the state.” To emphasize her point, she slammed the front door as she stormed out of the house.

Undyne sighed, “Gahh, I thought she'd never leave, hey Alphys are you doing alright?” She replied, “I’ll manage, this isn’t the first time she’s tried one of these stunts.” The small scientist readjusted her glasses, before exhaling. As she looked on the winding staircase below, Undyne remarked, “I still know why she was able to find us,” as Alphys said, "I think Flowey called her over, unintentionally but still.” As she said this Undyne rolled her right eye, the only one that was still in her skull. She cracked her knuckles and said, “ Well that’s just another reason to kick his ass.” “L-lets hold off on that,” said Alphys as she put her right hand on Undyne’s shoulder. With a bewildered expression Undyne said, “Why? Alphys, he called over a bigot and is clearly digging through your personal files, if anyone deserves to be punted into the garbage it’s him.” Alphys looked away as she said, “WelI don't think anyone told him that Jessica stole Toriel’s phone, so that was clearly just a mistake. Besides, I think he genuinely wants to help us, he accidentally told me he’s doing this for personal reasons.” While raising an eyebrow, Undyne asked, "And what kind of personal reasons?” before Alphys replied, “He’s trying to bring back his sibling.”

After a few minutes of explaining the situation to Undyne, the couple walked down the winding basement of the secret lab. Undyne had a completely bewildered expression on her face, part of her still couldn’t believe that this little brat was actually the long dead prince Asriel. While she never met the kid as he died before she was born, the behavior Flowey exhibited seemed completely contrary to how Toriel and Asgore described their son. Asriel was happy, cheerful, and a bit of a crybaby, while Flowey was a sadistic flower who toyed with people’s lives, there was no way that they were the same person. The contrast became even more apparent as the duo saw scientific papers scattered around the floor of the lab. Their petalled interloper was digging through paper after paper, looking for anything that might help him. Alphys bluntly remarked, “So you’ve gone from my computer to my written notes...”

Flowey claimed, “Look, there's gotta be something here that can help with the trial. After this I'll get out of your hair, or scales in your case” He continued to toss papers around the already messy room as Alphys walked in front of him. She said, “Look I know that despite your attitude you actually want to help, b-but we won’t get anywhere if we don’t get together.” He looked over for a second, before going back to rummaging through Alphys’s notes. Undyne walked over to Alphys and whispered, “Al I don’t think you’re getting anywhere with him,” as her wife shook her head. She continued, “Flowey do you know what Jessica told me if we can’t stop her during the trial, all of this is going to be gone, confiscated, we won’t have any way to find your sibling let alone save them.” The flower scoffed, “Aren’t you a super genius, you can probably whip up a new lab in no time.” As Alphys yelled, “Yeah but not in a month, the world will be gone by the time I’m done.” She looked down at the flower who sighed in defeat. “You make a good point,” said Flowey, “So let’s work together, it’s better than letting that Jessica lady win.”

Alphys playfully elbowed Undyne in the side and gave her a thumbs up. “I told you he could be reasoned with,” said Alphys as Undyne smiled as she said, “Heh, you showed me.” As the couple talked amongst themselves Flowey looked around the room. He looked at the mess that had now been accumulating and said, “So what’s the catch? I doubt you want me working with you for free.” His scientific ally perked up and said, “Hmm, Well first of all you’ve gotta help me clean this mess up, and second of all, no calling known jerks like Jessica.” Flowey looked her dead in the eyes and asked, “Is that all?” Alphys put a hand behind her head and replied, “Well I might want to run some tests on you, but yeah that’s about it.” The Flower sighed, “Test’s huh, what kind of tests?” as Alphys stammered, “Just some preliminary tests, nothing too major.” The flower rolled his head before saying, “Fair enough, let’s flipping do this.”

The next few days went smoothly for Frisk and Flowey. Frisk’s schoolwork was going along smoothly and Flowey was a useful aid to the easily panicked scientist. Even if the end of the world was set to happen in a month’s time, the two of them were in relatively high spirits, the extra tv time probably helped. Despite that, there was one thing that kept nagging at Frisk. Whenever they would fall asleep, they kept having the same dream. It didn’t matter if it was a daydream or if they were actually going to bed, they still ended up in the same place. The same coffin, the same flowers, the same reveal. It all got pretty tiring after a while, they knew Chara was trying to reach out to them, but what did it all mean? Was it all metaphorical, or were they really trapped in a coffin on a beach? Either way, at least they were the only one having these dreams, right…?

It had been three days since Alphy found out that Flowey had been spying on her and suspequently agreed to be her lab aid. She was hard at work creating a device that could pinpoint the origin of the energy that was pouring out of the glitched objects. She reasoned that these cracks in reality probably originate from one main tear. If they can find the location of that tear they can go to Skollhati’s domain and rescue Chara. She rolled back in her, as she thought over the scenario, she didn’t know if the “void” was even habitable for humans or monsters. Would she have to create spacesuits for everyone, so they could enter the rift without dying? It looked like she’d have a lot to work on before any of them even entered the void.

Before she could continue with this train of thought, a loud thud interrupted her train of thought. The great Papyrus had laid a massive stack of glitched objects on the table in front of her. Originally Sans didn’t want Papyrus to enter the lab, but Alphys insisted that he deserved to see the place. “THAT SHOULD DO IT,” sighed Papyrus, “I STILL WONDER WHERE THESE CRACKS CAME FROM?” Alphys said, “Well… that’s what I’m trying to figure out, though I’ll say, you and your brother have been really helpful in that endeavor.” Papyrus dramatically bowed, “NYEH HEH HEH, I’M GREAT-FUL TO HAVE BEEN OF SERVICE. STILL I’M GETTING WORRIED, THESE DAMAGES ARE APPEARING A LOT MORE FREQUENTLY. ONE MONDAY I SAW FIVE OF THEM, SEVEN YESTERDAY AND TWENTY TODAY. I DON’T KNOW IT’S GETTING CRAZIER.” His brother appeared behind him and said, “welp, the sooner we can find the source the better, at least it’s mostly localized to the area around mt ebott.” Alphys looked behind at the massive stack of cracked objects that was slowly accumulating in her lab. “Let’s just hope it stays that way,” sighed the scientist.

Without warning, her machine detected a massive spike in energy. She ran over to her machine, trying to detect the source of this energy. “Please don’t tell me this is because these objects are in close proximity to each other,” groaned Alphys, before she saw where the energy was pouring out of, it was Flowey. As the Flower stirred in his sleep, the readings became more and more intense all before the plant woke up in a cold sweat. “Why did I have that dream again,” bemoaned the flower as the machine once again caught those readings. He woke up again and yelled, “Chara if you’re trying to tell me something, then just spit it out, stop giving me this cryptic nonsense.” Before he could fall asleep again Alphys asked him, “Wait, Chara has been giving you this dream?” as the flower yelled, “Maybe? I keep seeing the same dang metal coffin dream everytime I go to bed. It’s really intensified ever since this place became infested with these objects.”

Alphys put her finger on her chin, before remarking, “That’s interesting, it seems like these objects are making it easier to connect to them.” “WAIT,” exclaimed Papyrus, “ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT THESE OBJECTS ARE CONNECTED TO THE SPIRIT WORLD?!” Sans said, “paps i don’t think that’s what she-” as Undyne yelled out, “That’s exactly what she’s implying. In fact, the last time I fell asleep here I was able to talk to my late aunt Cetia.” “Really?” said Papyrus as he laid down on the floor. “I’m going to see if I can talk to my Grandpa” said Papyrus as Undyne exclaimed, “That’s the spirit.” Though as soon as Papyrus fell asleep Sans teleported him out of the room.

“Anyways…” said Alphys, “I wanted to tell you because I was getting some strange spikes in energy whenever you went to bed. If this is coming from who I think it is, then maybe we can use that find where they are.” “Sounds like a plan…” said Flowey as he yawned, before submerging himself in the floor. “I’m going to pretend that this all didn’t happen,” as he quickly disappeared from view. As he left, Alphys thought back to a machine that she wanted to create in her youth. She pulled open up a drawer and saw the blueprints for a machine that can link two souls together. “I still have it,” sighed Alphys, “Frisk won’t mind if my notes are a little bit late, right…?”

On the day of the meeting, Frisk was quickly rushed out of school by Asgore. Their teacher’s weren’t the biggest fan of the king of monsters taking Frisk out of their classes, but the teenager assured them that they could just rely on their class recordings to catch up on any missed work. As they got into the car Asgore asked them, “So are you ready?” Frisk replied, “I was born ready.” The goat king looked down as he started up the car. Frisk looked over to Asgore and asked, “Is something wrong?” as Asgore replied, “It’s just that, I know that Jessica isn’t going to go as easy on you today. She’s been really pushing the council to do something about those glitched objects.” The teen leaned back in their chair while saying, “I think she’s just mad that Papyrus was able to get more of them than her.” The old king chuckled, “Maybe, but still be careful, Jessica will use everything and anything against you.” Frisk asked, “Do you think she’ll use my accident on Sunday,” as Asgore sighed, “Probably, it did cause quite a stir after all.” The human looked down at their hands before clenching them into fists, “bring it on.”

It didn’t take them long to get to city hall. The exterior was covered in a brilliant white marble that seemed to capture the sun’s every rays. As the two of them walked inside, Frisk’s bizarre tag along took in the sites around them. The walls were covered in a marigold wallpaper with the portraits of former mayors dotting the room like barnacles on a rock. Meanwhile the floor was interlaced with obsidian black tiles that were as reflective as a newly cleaned mirror. Dash remarked, “So this is the city hall, it’s a lot more impressive than I expected, ". Frisk shrugged as they said, “Honestly it kinda loses its luster after a while, that’s the consequence of coming here every friday.” Before Frisk could walk into the meeting, Asgore handed them a bag with a bunch of clothes in it. “I don’t think you’ll look that presentable in your school clothes.” said Asgore. Frisk raised their left eyebrow while saying, “This isn’t another tunic right?” The old king shook his head while saying, “Trust me, I think you’ll like this one.”

It took only a few minutes for Frisk to get out of the changing room. They were wearing a purple vest with white horizontal stripes cutting through it. Their sleeves were as white as snow and their pants and shoes were as brown as leather. Asgore asked, “So do you like it?” as Frisk replied, “I kinda look like a jock…” “Is that a bad thing?” asked Asgore as Frisk shook their head. “No, I think I just have to get used to it.” said Frisk as they put on a weak smile, “Let’s just get a move on. The old king nodded as they both slowly walked into the main meeting hall.

The room was covered in the same tiling as the entrance hall, but the walls were stained by a red velvet paint. On these walls were the portraits of several people who had once served as member of the city council. Some of these pictures were so old that many of them probably predated the birth of Chara. Their pictures were clearly faded with time, and only the most astute onlookers could even make out most of their details. The hall was filled by the council members enraptured by a long and boring discussion, well it was boring to Frisk. A couple of the members looked over to Frisk, before Asgore apologized, “Sorry we’re a little late, Frisk just had to change out of their school clothes.” The members nodded before they went back to their repetitive speech, something, something, housing prices.

The teen honestly didn’t pay too much attention to this repetitive speech. They had come here to warn people about glitched objects, while also not revealing the existence of Skollhati. All of these seemingly inconsequential conversations were boring Frisk to sleep. Their eyes started to close, before Asgore loudly snapped his finger at them. He said, “Frisk I know this stuff isn’t important to you, but it’s poor form to sleep during a meeting.” The teen sighed, “I know it’s just, with all those anomalies around town, you’d think they’d focus on that.” Asgore chuckled, “I get that, sometimes it feels like the older a person gets, the less they care about the world around them.” The ambassador rolled their eyes as they cheekly replied, “Please aren’t you the oldest person here?” The old king laughed, “Well it isn’t a guarantee, who knows maybe I came full circlet.” Frisk looked down, “Well if there’s any consolation prize it’s that Jessica still isn’t here yet. Alphys hasn’t sent over the script yet, but with any luck we’l-”

They stopped when Jessica kicked open the door and waltzed right up to the main table. The council of old people looked at her with a mixture of distrust and confusion. She wasn’t on the best terms with the group after that fiasco she caused a couple of years ago, though because of her tenure and remorse for her situation, she was able to remain on the council despite her unpopularity. She scoffed, “Why are you old fools focused on taxes when we have these on our doorsteps.” The councilwoman slammed a t-shirt cannon on the table alongside several other objects all bearing the scars of Skollhati. Jessica huffed, “These were the only ones I could find around town and if it wasn’t for that blasted tall skeleton I would have found more.”

An older gentleman said, “So why are we supposed to care about these, sorry but taxes are a lot more important than some vandalized toy” The politician scowled as she said, “This is not vandalism, when I touched the cracks of these objects, my arm glitched like a video game character.” To demonstrate this, she put her pointer finger on the blue crack and her entire body started to convulse, jerking wildly like she was struck with lightning.

The old man remarked, “Interesting, what do you think caused these anomalies.” As Jessica replied with a glint in her eyes, “monsters.” Multiple facepalms went off at once as Jess elaborated, “Look I know I've blamed them a lot in the past, but this time I’m serious. They kept trying to grab these objects before me and my team, personally I think they know what’s going on. They created these as a weapon, It might only be small appliances today, but in a few months they could be breaking apart entire cities. And it will all be the fault of the two scientists, Sans and Alphys!”

As she finished, the assembled crowd began murmuring amongst themselves. Some appeared to be on Jessica's side, while several others didn’t seem to be convinced. Her biggest detractor was easily Frisk. They knew that the two scientists weren’t responsible for the anomalies, and they knew that Jessica was lying about the entire thing. Unfortunately they still didn't have their notes on hand, and the shouts of the crowd made it impossible for them to talk. Any words they said was drowned out by a chaotic sea of arguments and conversations. Frisk knew they had to do something, but how could they tell everyone the truth without revealing Skollhati? Even if a majority of the people were on their side, could they really convince them all that they were in danger? They didn’t even have their notes on hand, they didn’t have any sources, but they needed to do something.

They slammed their fist on the desk and said, “Those two aren’t responsible for this and you know it.” The judgemental politician glared at Frisk as she said, “Looks like the Ettar is finally speaking up, what are you angry that I’m little friends?” The ambassador scoffed, “First of all, I’m part of Gen Zeta not Eta.” Jessica mumbled, “by a year.” Frisk continued, “And second of all, you don’t have absolutely no evidence that Sans and Alphys are behind this.” The politician laughed, “No evidence, please I've been to Undyne and Alphys’s house. Their secret lab is as obvious as your junk food addiction.” Frisk rolled their eyes as they said, “Jessica I'm fourteen most kids my age eat junk food” Asgore looked over to Frisk and said, “You know that’s not she means right?” The teenager huffed as they crossed their arms and leaned back on their seat, “touche.” They looked over to Jessica and asked, “Still why do you even think Alphys has a secret lab? She’s been pretty open with everyone since she got out of the Underground. Also I’ve gotta say, blaming a newly wed, that’s a low blow even for you.” With a smirk, Jessica said, “Why? because that beanpole of a skeleton told me.”

The auditorium exploded into discourse as Jessica continued, “He texted me that there was a big secret lab right under the couple’s house. He must’ve felt so confident telling me all about this secret laboratory, after all he’s not been discrete when he retrieved those glitched objects. And since he keeps bringing those objects to the newlywed’s house, they’re clearly doing something with them.” Before Frisk could retort her claims, another politician called out, “Maybe she’s just trying to help.” Jessica glared at her “heckler” ,she had bleached blonde hair and a worn old cap with a flower pattern on it. “Elaborate,” said Jessica as the politician continued, “We’ll you haven’t indicated anything directly malicious. All you’ve said is that she’s gotten in the way of your team, and in that case why shouldn’t she? She’s a professional while they’re a bunch of hired guns, I know who I trust.” Jessica sneared as she said, “Do you seriously trust the woman who turned her fellow citizens into goop monsters, I almost thought you were smarter than that, Ms.Tuyoki.”

Upon hearing that name Dash asked Frisk, “Wait Tuyoki? Is she related to Temmie?” Frisk replied, “No she's clearly a human, though I heard that she had a relative with that name.” Jessica looked over to Frisk and said, “Are you seriously talking to yourself? This is a meeting, please pay attention. Seriously between their daydream, their addiction to their cellphone, and nap times why it almost seems like they’re using this hall as a daycare.” Asgore defended Frisk as he said, “Look I’m not the biggest fan of them sleeping during meetings, but they do use their phone for notes, so it’s not like they’re distracting themselves.” Jessica scoffed, “I don’t need to be reprimanded by a child killer, you should count yourself lucky that you’re even on this council King Asgore.” Frisk coughed out, “H-hey, they’re just trying to defend me, besides I don’t think you would do any better in his situation.” The middle aged politician scoffed, “Really now, you think I would murder children if I was ruling a kingdom? Unlike your aide I have integrity.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said Frisk, “As if you have any of that.” Jessica yelled, “Of course I have integrity, what do you take me for your king?” A council member called out, “That was uncalled for,” as Jessica yelled back, “Their existence was uncalled for.” She looked back at Frisk and said, “If Alphys is really doing the right thing, then tell us what her plan is? Come on brat, just spill the beans it should hurt that much right?” “On it” said Tuyoki as she spilled Lima beans on the ground. “I didn’t mean literally,” yelled Jessica, “Why did you even have those in your pockets?” As Tuyoki shrugged, “I dunno, I thought they would be tasty,” as Jessica sneered, “Well then you shouldn’t mind cleaning them up.” The young politician sighed as she started picking up her small mess.

Jessica looked satisfied before she looked back at Frisk and said, “Just tell us the truth, or else all of your friends are going to suffer.” Frisk stumbled over their words, “I-umm why would I know?” Jessica pounded a desk and yelled, “Of course you know damnit.” As another council member interjected, “Jessica please they’re just a child,” as Jess scoffed, “Yet they’re still a member of this council.” “Come on think, think, think” though Frisk, if they didn’t do something soon, then everything could go to crap. They texted as many people as they could to contact Alphys, but no one seemed to pick up. Jessica glared at Frisk and said, “Put your damn phone down, we’re having a meeting not a get together. She walked over to Frisk and snatched the phone out of their hand, “You’ll get this back when we’re done,” said Jessica. Frisk tried to get her to stop, but Jessica simply ignored them, even as their phone dinged with a new message.

“Were you trying to get help?” said the council woman as she glared at Frisk with eyes that could freeze the warmest of hearts. “Shit, shit, shit,” thought Frisk as they put their hands over their head. “That was my only link to Alphys, what the heck am I going to do now?” In the back of their mind, Dash said, “Alphys isn’t the only friend you can contact.” Frisk remarked, “She stole my phone, other than Asgore I can’t really talk to anyone else.” The entity claimed, “Well you could always call me,” as Frisk said, “I’m not sure I’d call you a friend.” This prompted Dash to say, “Look It’s clear that Jessica will never respect you, but maybe she’ll respect me. Given how much she seems to belittle you for your age, maybe you need a more mature approach.” Frisk shrugged, “If you really want to talk to her then go knock yourself out, it’s not going to work.” Dash confidently replied, “I’m going to prove you wrong.”

Frisk’s body falls onto the desk, before quickly picking themselves up with a newly achieved confidence in their eyes. “You were right Jessica, I do know why this is happening,” said the “teen” as Asgore and Jessica looked at them with confusion. “Frisk, why do you sound so different?” asked Asgore as the entity replied, “Because I’m their conscious, and now I’m finally in control.” In the back of Dash’s mind they could hear Frisk object to this but they paid them no mind. “You see what’s happening is that a creature from the multiverse has fallen into our world, but because of that it’s accidentally caused a few objects to glitch out. Dr.Alphys is doing her best to reverse the process.” As Dash concluded, Jessica laughed, “Really now, so Frisk, what does this ‘multiversal’ entity look like?” Prompting Dash to answer, “a wolf.”

They stood up there with beaming confidence before Frisk yelled, “What are you doing?” Dash replied, “I’m telling them the truth, they deserve that right?” Frisk shook their head, “Do you remember what Sans said, he said that knowing about Skollhati causes her to become interested in your world.” As Dash rolled their eyes and said, “Well that ship has already sailed.” Prompting Frisk to say, “It doesn’t matter, you told Jessica, Jessica of all people about Skollhati, if we aren’t careful we-” The two interrupted as they heard Jessica laughing hysterically at them from on the stands.

“A lovecraftian wolf? Frisk, do you think I’m an idiot?” asked Jessica as “Frisk” said, “I mean you certainly have a stick up your ass.” She huffed before remarking, “Crude as always, still all this proved to me is that you have no actual idea what’s actually going on. I mean seriously a “multiversal wolf” what’s next? A parasite that forces you to say 1990s lingo, give me a break kid.” As she said this an older council member remarked, “Soooo, the best conclusion is that none of us actually know what’s going on, so we can consider this meeting over.” All before Jessica pounded her fist on the table, the elder rolled his eyes at her. “Jessica any more desk abuse and you’re paying for the replacement.” She crossed her arms and said, “Whatever, you can’t call the meeting off yet. Just because the kid is playing dumb doesn't mean we should stop. In fact, because of that absurd claim, I say we press them further. What's the actual truth brat?”

Asgore said, “Jessica, they clearly don't know what's going on, just leave them alone.” As Jessica balked, “You want me to stop, then come on big guy, stop me the same way you stopped my daughter.” “Jessica, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” replied Asgore, as the politician yelled, “Why? Is it because you'll actually have to face punishment?” Asgore looked over to Frisk and said, “I think it's probably a good idea to go.” The human nods before Jessica yells, “You can't run now, you still haven't told us the truth.” Frisk said, “I'm not running, I'm just being the bigger person.” “Sure,” said Jessica, “In that case, you forfeit, all your tech belongs to me.” Frisk yelled, “Wait we didn't agree to that? Actually do you even have the authority to do that?” Jessica smirked, “I will, we can all see the truth. You refuse to explain the situation, and insist on fairy tales. Why would your precious scientists think of tha-” “I think one of those scientists can speak for themselves,” said Alphys as she burst into the council hall.

She looked over to Frisk and said, “Frisk I am so, so sorry that I’m late. I overslept today and when I finally got up, you weren’t responding to any of my new messages. Given how important it seemed to be to you, I was surprised that you didn’t reply to the document.” Alphys looked over to Jessica’s purse and saw Frisk’s phone hanging out of it. “Though now I see why I wasn’t able to reach you,” remarked Alphys, “Really Jessica, first Toriel now Frisk, do you have something against people owning phones?” The politician chuckled, “The only reason I took it was because they were distracting themselves, I was doing them a favor.” “Sure you were…” said Alphys as she opened up her personal laptop. A light blue hologram lit up the council hall, amazing many of the people that were now surrounding her.

“So based on my research, this crack in reality seemed to be caused by an excessive amount of resetting in the Underground. You see, when an organism has the most amount of determination in it’s domain, then they will have the capacity to reset time. Both Frisk and Flowey were able to use determination, to reset and come back from death multiple time, but unbeknownst to them, this excess instability built up, and now we’re experiencing the full effects of it.” As Alphys said this Jessica scoffed, “Is that really your best explanation,” before being interrupted by another politician who said, “No it all makes sense. We’ve all heard about the power a creature could possess if they got control over the timeline, so it would most likely go to their head. Their recklessness could have easily caused this.” Jessica said, “So what, all that means is that those brats are responsible for this. Personally, I think that if you’re telling the truth then they should both be behind bars.”

Alphys said, “That won’t be necessary, I believe that both of them can be a huge help when it comes to solving this mess. Plus they didn’t know this would happen and they’re kids, can’t you just give them a break?” Jessica looked down as she said, “What kind of damage will this cause if we can’t reverse this?” Alphys admitted, “Well, if we can’t do anything about it, then the whole timeline might implode on itself.” The politician was about to say something before Alphys said, “B=but, that’s a very slim possibility. Most likely, all that will happen is that our town will be destroyed, but I’ve been hard at creating a solution. And with Frisk and Flowey’s help, we can have this whole problem solved in less than a month.” Jessica claimed, “Oh please, my team could have this all solved in under a week, all we need are your assets.” With a cocky smirk, Alphys said, “Alright, let's have the council decide.”

Jessica begrudgingly allowed her to do this and as the poll came in, it was clear just how much of a mistake that was for Jessica. Nearly the entire council was on Alphys’s side and they allowed her to continue her work in peace. The bigoted politician gritted her teeth after she saw the results. She bumped into a small skeleton as she was walking towards the door. The politician felt her purse become lighter as she saw Sans holding Frisk’s and Toriel’s phones in his hands. “i think you’re long past the point of needing more ‘evidence, '” said Sans as he gave Frisk their phone back. Asgore said, “Howdy Sans, when did you get here?” as the skeleton replied, “how do you think alphys got here on such short notice?” The former king laughed, “Hahahaha, your shortcuts never fail to impress me Sans. The king, Sans, Frisk, and Alphys all shared a happy moment right before the meeting ended.

As they left the council hall Frisk whispered to Alphys, “I can't believe you came up with such a good cover story. I mean I’m a bit worried about being blamed for this whole situation, but hopefully it should be fine.” The scientist looked over to Frisk and replied, “Well at the very least you and Flowey are helping me out. So I’m pretty sure they’ll see it as you two making up for your mistakes.” The teenager nodded before clenching their chin, their eyes were deep in thought. “Is something wrong?” asked Alphys as Frisk replied, “It’s just…Why did you sleep in so late? I doubt that creating this theory took you an entire school week.” Alphys fiddled with her phone before saying, “It’s just that something really big got in the way. Flowey kept having this reoccurring dream where he was trapped in a metal box surrounded by flowers.” Frisk’s eyes became wide with shock as Alphys continued, “”Strangely, my machines detected a massive amount of energy whenever he slept. He even told me that the dreams got more intense after Papyrus brought over more glitched objects.”

Alphys raised a finger as she said, “My hypothesis is that Chara might be trying to reach out to them, so I’ve been working on a machine to make that easier. It’s been a lot of hard work but I should have a working prototype by tomorrow.” She looked over to Frisk and noticed that they were as still as a statue. Their eyes were transfixed as if they were a deer looking at the headlights of a car. Alphys put a hand on their shoulder which quickly made them burst out of their brief trance. She asked them, “Is something wrong?” as Frisk looked off to the side. “It’s nothing” said Frisk as they sat on a bench in the meeting hall. Alphys tilted her head as she asked, “So why did you seem so shocked by that story? Were you seriously that surprised that I was multitasking?” The teenager shook their head as they said, “Of course not, I just didn’t expect Flowey to have the same dream as me.”

They looked over to the scientist to see her look just as dumbfounded as they did a few seconds ago. “Yooooh, earth to Alphys” said Frisk as they waved a hand in front of Alphys’s shocked face. She quickly broke out of her trance and said, “Well I’ve gotta get back to the lab.” Frisk asked, “Wait, why do you need to do that?” as Alphys said, “Because this whole situation just became very, very interesting.”

Chapter 6: Trapped in Paradise

This was the most motivated Alphys had been in ages. Yesterday, she learned that Frisk and Flowey had been having the exact same dream, they were in a metal coffin and when they lifted their arm, it looked exactly like Chara’s. While she could’ve dismissed it as a strange coincidence, the massive spikes of energy that Flowey gave off as he rested suggested otherwise. “What are you trying to tell us, Chara?” said Alphys as she put the finishing touches on her newest invention. It had taken several days, and it had distracted her from writing up the report on the anomalies, but now it was finally completed. 

She wiped away the droplets of sweat that formed on her face and fell back on her chair. Admittedly the creation of this machine took a lot less time than she had expected. If she hadn’t attempted to make a similar device back in the day, it could have taken her months to finish this and unfortunately they didn’t have that type of time on their hands. The prototype was made so that she could talk to alternate versions of herself and maybe find an important someone from an alternate universe, but it never worked. As she got back to working on this device she quickly found out why. This type of telepathy could only work with people that had previously been in contact with her soul. The only methods she knew of to accomplish this was by absorbing their soul in the past, or if they absorbed her’s. Unless she found a candidate that had previously interacted with someone else’s soul, this connection would never work. Thankfully she was blessed with a perfect test subject, a golden flower that had once claimed every soul in the Underground, Flowey.

“H-hey Flowey, do you mind coming over here,” asked Alphys, “I could really use your help with something.” Soon enough the flower wriggled out from the floor and looked over to the massive machine in front of him. It looked like a large supercomputer with a circular screen that was flanked by two human sized pods. The pods were hooked up to the machine with tons of wiring and what appeared to be exhaust ports, interesting. As he looked at the hulking machine in front of him Flowey asked, “what is this?” Alphys pointed to the ceiling as she said, “I call it the Dreamlink 999. Admittedly I haven’t actually made 999 versions of it, but I-i thought it would be a cool na-” before Flowey interrupted her as he said, “Get to the point.” The scientist awkwardly replied, “Well you see it’s able to link people’s minds together even across universes. You’ll be able to see memories, dreams, and thoughts from someone no matter how far away they are. The only catch is that you need to have had a connection to their soul, and because of your ridiculous stunt a few years ago, you’ll have a lot of potential candidates.”

Flowey remarked, “Sounds interesting but is there a catch?” Alphys replied, “The only catch is that it uses up a lot of energy. I will probably only be able to use a multiversal link with it once, so I need that to count. Plus I haven’t calibrated it for any interference yet so you could be connected to hundreds of alternate versions of Chara before you find the one from our world.” The flower rolled his eyes, that interference is probably the reason why the machine takes up so much energy. He remarked, “Are you sure this is going to work Alphys?” before she replied, “It’s not guaranteed but it’s better than nothing.” Silently the flower said, “I guess so,” before entering the pod of the machine.

“So we’re just going to use it to find them now?” said Flowey, as Alphys replied, “Not exactly. We need to make sure that it can work in the first place, so we’ll be using someone from this universe.” Flowey rolled his eyes as he said, “Okayyy, just make sure it isn’t from someone weird, like Jerry.” Alphys laughed as she said, “Please I’m not that cruel. You won’t have to worry about being connected as rotten as Mr.Cheeto-fingers.” The flower breathed a sigh of relief before closing his eyes. The machine whirled to life, creating a loud droning noise that echoed throughout the lab. He occasionally opened his eyes to check out who Alphys was connecting him to, but unfortunately the control panel was just out of sight of him. “Great,” thought Flowey as he finally settled in. “Let’s just hope this isn’t a complete trainwreck.”

The Dream Cable lit up the entire laboratory as Flowey’s mind was connected with his target. The ambient green light of the lab was overpowered by the bright blue flash of the machine’s activation. It felt like everything in the lab paled in comparison to this newest device. Even though it was only activated for a few minutes, Alphys couldn’t help but feel like this was the dawn of a new era. Even though her dream to speak to alternate versions of herself had long since died, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit giddy from this experiment. Her long abandoned dream had finally come. Though she knew that she couldn’t let her excitement get the best of her and shut off the machine before it could use too much energy. However as she did this, a pungent smell soon filled the room, smoke. 

“Nononononono” thought Alphys as she ran towards the containment pod. She didn’t yet know if the machine or Flowey were on fire, but she wasn’t taking any chances. With all her might, Alphys hauled open the pod and felt relieved, Flowey was alright. He sat there peacefully, with his closed eyes moving as if they were in a dream. Even though everything worked out alright, Alphys was still worried about the safety of the machine. Flowey was linked to someone right next to him and the machine still overheated. How would she even be able to connect him to someone across the world, let alone trapped in another reality? 

”Hopefully none of the wires are melted” thought Alphys as she looked down at the flower. He murmured in his sleep as Alphys cradled him in her arms. “It seems like I’m going to have to work out a little bit of the kinks of the machine. It’s going to need a lot of adjustments, lots of adjustments.” said Alphys before poking Flowey’s face and asking, “So how was it?” His bloodshot eyes sprung open and he glared daggers at Alphys. “What. The. Hell. Was. That.”

Nervously, Alphys asked him, “Was it Mew Mew doing the Caramelldansen dance?” as the Flower grumbled out, “Yes.” He could tell for a fact that the reptilian scientist had linked his mind to hers, after all who else would dream about something so dumb? Meanwhile, Alphys stood as still as a statue before exclaiming, “It worked, it really worked, Flowey do you know what this means?” As Flowey replied, “That you have terrible taste in anime?” to which Alphys retorted, “No that we might actually be able to find your sibling. Also for your information I have great taste in anime, and I bet Chara would back me up on that.” Flowey laughed in her face while saying, “Sure they would. Listen when they fill this lab with sticky notes with the phrase “bad opinion zone” written on them, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” Alphys sighed, “R-regardless, there weren't any side effects from the machine right?” Flowey shook his head as Alphys caught her breath.  

She said, “I think I’ll have to work out some of the issues with the device. I need to find out why it overheated so much, according to my calculations it shouldn’t have used that much energy to link to someone who was in the same room.” Flowey shrugged, “Maybe it’s because I don’t have a soul?” It could’ve forced the machine to work overtime to connect the two of us.” The scientist admitted, “You know that’s a good point, maybe if I link with someone who had a similar connection to Chara, the machine might not overheat.” As she said this, the Flower smugly grinned while saying, “Well, you know who to call,” as he pointed to Frisk’s number on his phone.

“Flowey I know that Frisk will jump at the opportunity to help, but what about Toriel?” Said Alphys, “After the construction zone incident she's tried to keep them out of any and all danger. There’s no way that she’d agree to let Frisk participate in this experiment.” The Flower thought it over before saying, “then just lie you're already good at it.” As Alphys scoffed, “Lying is why I lost my job Flowey, I’m not going to repeat that again.” The Flower groaned, “Come on, they're the only other person with a soul-based connection to Chara. If we can’t get them over, then we might as well consider this experiment a failure.” The scientist looked over to the dejected flower, he unfortunately had a point. She picked up her phone and carefully typed a number. Flowey looked over her shoulders and noticed that she wasn’t calling Frisk but was instead calling Toriel. She noticed the Flower looking over her but only sighed in response. As the phone started ringing, Alphys thought to herself, “I really hope I don’t regret this.”

“Greetings” said an old voice from the phone. “H-hi Toriel, it’s been a little bit since we’ve talked one-on-one.” nervously said Alphys. The goat woman kindheartedly laughed, “Alphys it has only been a week since your wedding, not centuries.” The scientist weakly laughed in response, “I-I guess you have a point…” Toriel started to pick up on Alphys’s apprehension. While she knew that Alphys was a naturally nervous person, this clearly felt different. She asked the scientist, “Are you doing alright? You seem extremely worried about something.” Alphys choked out, “W-well, I was planning on running an experiment that could help us determine where the anomaly is coming from, and I was wondering if you’d be okay with Frisk being involved. N-now I know that you don’t want them to do anything dangerous right now, but they and Flowey are the only ones that are directly connected to the anomalies. I-I understand if you’re not okay wi-” as Toriel cut them off as she said, “I will allow it.”

Alphys couldn’t believe what she heard as she stammered, “Wait, are you serious?” As Toriel replied, “Of course, I have not been blind to their willingness to help you. Still, before you go any further I do have two requests. First, me and Sans need to be in the same room as them, even if I am not their parent I am still their guardian, Plus it would be really neat to see what your new lab looks like. Second, it needs to be safe. I cannot in good conscience allow them to be hurt in the name of science.” As Toriel said this, Alphys apprehensively looked back at her machine as Toriel finished with, “Do these terms work for you?” The scientist thought it over before saying yes over the phone. Toriel sighed, “Good, does Monday work for you?” The scientist replied, “Yes it does.” as Toriel replied, “Good see you then” as she hung up the phone. “See ya…” said Alphys as she prepared for the trials ahead.

Two days later:

The time that Toriel had given Alphys had been a blessing in disguise. Not only had she been able to work out many of the kinks in the machine, but she also had the opportunity to do some cleaning up. She knew that Toriel would never approve of her leaving trash on the ground. The scientist looked behind her as the goat woman, Sans, Papyrus and Frisk walked down the stairs. “It is definitely more green than I imagined," said Toriel as Papyrus said, “MAYBE SHE'S A FAN OF GREEN ENERGY.” Sans chuckled, “she's definitely showing her green thumb” as Papyrus scoffed, “I’M PRETTY SURE HER THUMBS ARE YELLOW, NOT GREEN. THOUGH I GET THE JOKE.” 

Frisk looked down at the ground and groaned, “aww man, you got rid of the ramen bowls, those would have been tasty.” Sans shook his head as he said, “some sacrifices needed to be made.” His brother glared at Frisk as he said, “PLEASE TELL ME YOU WEREN’T PLANNING ON EATING THEM, THEY’RE LITERALLY MADE OF CARDBOARD?!” The human nervously laughed as Papyrus slapped himself on the face. “HOW ARE YOU EVEN GROSSER THAN SANS?” dramatically bemoaned Papyrus. Frisk laughed as they replied, “Because I’m just a little trash goblin at heart.”

Before the quartet could continue talking, Flowey grabbed Frisk by the arm and yanked them to the machine. He grumbled, “Alphys created this machine two days ago, and since that time I have been subjected to every terrible anime meme under the sun. I am not wasting any more time dilly-dallying.” “Oh come on it wasn’t that bad,” said Frisk, “What’s wrong with a brief conversation?” The flower venomously spit out, “everything…” The human scoffed as they said, “Someone’s being dramatic. At the very least could you tell me what this machine does?” He stopped yanking Frisk and whispered in their ear. Before long Frisk exclaimed, “You made a soul link-umph” as Flowey quickly covered their mouth. 

He had a nervous grin as he looked up at the confused faces of the adults around him. The flower clarified, “W-what they meant to say is that this is a machine that can pinpoint the origin point of the rift. Since it’s our fault that it formed in the first place, by scanning our minds we’ll be able to determine where the rift is located and hopefully seal it.” Toriel said, “But did you not say that it connected you to an anime? This feels like a lot of work to pinpoint a tear in reality.” He sighed as he replied, “Trust me, if I still had a soul we’d find it by now, just one of the many perks of being me.” “THEY’RE NOT GOING TO BE HURT RIGHT?” asked Papyrus, “I WANT THESE WEIRD GLITCHES TO BE GONE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, BUT STILL.” The Flower laughed, “Oh don’t worry Papyrus, I’ll be going with them, so if anything bad happens we’ll both die.” 

“Flowey!” yelled Alphys, “I’ve tested the machine ten times on you, it's perfectly safe.” Flowey replied, “Sure, but you haven’t done an experiment to this magnitude before.” The scientist sighed, “No, but I’ve done the calculations, you two will both be fine and I can shut it down if anything goes wrong.” Sans looked over to Frisk and asked, “so kiddo, do you trust her?” Frisk nodded as they walked into the machine alongside Flowey. The flower told them, “I didn’t tell the others, but we might experience some roadblocks along the way. Nothing major but we might be connected to a couple of alternate Chara’s before we find the real deal.” Frisk told him, “why are you telling me that now?” as the flower replied, “It’s just that, Chara’s always been a bit of a troubled person. I just want to warn you that we might run into a universe where they fell even further.” Frisk laughed, “Look if I can look past your sins I can look past any alternate Chara’s sins as well. Plus they aren’t who we’re looking for so it really shouldn’t matter” The Flower sighed as the machine slowly hummed to life, “I guess you’re right Frisk.”

Toriel looked over to the side as the machine slowly turned on, even with Alphys’s insistence that it was safe, there was a nagging feeling that something was off. There had to be something that Alphys and potentially Sans weren’t telling her. They had both been remarkably quiet about the purpose of this machine and Flowey was clearly lying about its functionality. “Just what are they planning?” thought Toriel as a bright blue light engulfed the room. The experiment had already begun.

As Frisk opened their eyes, the bright blue glow of the machine had been replaced with the black void of space. Bright white stars surrounded them on all sides, as if they were the center of the universe. They looked over to their right and immediately noticed Flowey and Dash…? “Wait, what are you doing here?” asked Frisk as Dash replied, “Well I’m linked to your soul right, I guess it’s only fair that I’m a tag along.” Flowey asked the entity, “Why do you look so familiar?” as Dash replied, “Don’t think about it, you’ll just hurt your brain.” As Flowey grumbled at that response, Frisk asked him, “Do you know how long this will take?” The Flower perked up and said,  “It should only take a couple of minutes, We'll know when we're connected when those stars turn into streaks.” As if on command, the stars below them shot out and their world was illuminated by white. “See I told you this would be quick,” said Flowey as the three’s world slowly came into view.

They had arrived in a small apartment with two beds set on opposite sides of the room. There were glowing stars on the ceiling and a large red decorative Damascus knife laminated on the right side of the wall. Each side of the room had a small desk with a computer at each of them. “This isn’t the beach…” grumbled Frisk as they paced around the room, “Where are we?”. Flowey rolled his eyes as he remarked, “Well I did tell you that there would be interference. My best guess is that this is the bedroom of an alternate version of my sibling.”  Dash looked around the room and mused, “It honestly looks more like a college dorm to me. Still there’s something about this universe that feels familiar, it’s like I’ve been here before.” The flower asked, “Why do you say that?” as Dash replied, “Because of the energy of this world for some reason. I don’t know why, but it feels so familiar.” 

As the Flowey asked Dash to elaborate, Frisk looked over to one of the desks and noticed a picture of the Dreemurr Family. They saw Toriel, Asgore, Asriel, and…some weird kid wearing red devil horns standing in front of a suburban house. They looked relatively happy, but Frisk wondered, “ Why wasn’t Chara in this photo?”

Before they could figure that out, the door suddenly swung open as two figures walked into the room. One was a large goat monster with outward-facing horns, while the other was a short human with reddish brown hair, green-rimmed glasses and rosy cheeks. They were both dead ringers for Chara and Asriel, albeit quite a bit older than when they died. If Frisk had to guess they both seemed to be in their early twenties, college aged just like Dash had suggested. It felt so surreal to stand next to them for Frisk, they felt so small compared to these two. Asriel in particular was daunting as he had nearly grown as tall as their dad and their horns occasionally scrapped against the ceiling. The dorm clearly wasn’t designed for him.

The two of them climbed onto their respective beds and began talking to each other and unfortunately, Frisk couldn’t hear a single bit of it. No matter how much they tried to listen to their words, they only got radio silence. The teen tried to get their attention, but every time they tried to touch them, their hand just phased through them. It was like they were a ghost; they had a presence in the world but lacked the ability to interact with it. Frisk leaned over to Flowey and asked, “What do you think they’re talking about?” The flower quickly replied, “I don’t know, probably adult things like taxes, or the economy.” While raising an eyebrow, the ambassador said, “Really taxes? Come on these are grown up versions of you and Chara, do you really think your adult’s lives would be that la-” Their train of thought was interrupted as Dash said, “They’re talking about Fall Break.” 

Frisk looked at Dash as they asked, “Why do you say that?” as Dash replied, “You know how I said this world looked familiar, well those two confirmed it. This seems to be the Deltarune Universe or at least one remarkably similar to it. I’ve been connected to it before through another human named Kris. It’s a world where the war between humans and monsters never happened and…well okay a lot is different so I don’t even know where to begin.” The ambassador looked up at Dash and said, “Wait, you've been linked to other people?” as Dash replied, “Yeah but at least this linkage didn’t tick off an eldritch wolf god. Still Kris never seemed to be a fan of this possession thing.” Frisk crossed their arms as they said, “I guess great minds think alike, do you think they’re an alternate me?” Dash chuckled, “That’s kinda up in the air, but I personally think they’re their own person.” 

This thought was quickly proven true as Flowey looked over to the alternate Chara’s contact list and saw Frisk’s name. While he didn’t see too much of their picture, they seemed to be around the same age as this Chara and were wearing a white bucket hat. For some reason, they were labeled under “partner” “were they lab partners or something?” thought Flowey as he looked at the list, “I doubt that would be significant enough to put in your contacts.” He then moved away from his alternate sibling and said, “Alright I’ve seen everything I need to, Frisk, can you find a way out of here?” They looked at Flowey and asked, “What were you doing?” as the flower replied, “just making sure you exist in this world. Now anyway can you find a way out?” Frisk crossed their arms as they said, “Beats me, it’s not like if I touch this knife the world will magically-” The world instantly shifted into a new location as they touched the red Damascus knife. “I stand corrected,” Frisk muttered to themselves as Flowey laughed in their face.

As they got their bearings, Frisk noticed that they were in a golden hallway held up by similarly colored pillars. “This looks just like the place where Sans judged me,” mused Frisk as Flowey’s expression became numb. Dash gave the flower a knowing look, despite never properly meeting each other before now, they both knew exactly what was coming. On cue a slightly younger version of Frisk walked out of the door, but something was off with them. Their clothes were covered in dust, they brandished a glowing red knife, and a spine-tingling smile that was stretched along their face. “Why do I look like that?” asked Frisk, but Dash and Flowey only looked away from them in shame. “Tell me, you two are both clearly hiding something from me, why do I look like that?” As they said this, Sans appeared before the alternate version of them and said, “heh, you’ve been busy huh. so, i’ve got a question for ya. do you think that the worst person can change?” 

Frisk was speechless as Sans continued their speech, “anyway i’ve got a better question, do you want to have a bad time? because if you take one more step you are really not going to like what happens next.” The hollow clone of Frisk emotionlessly walked towards Sans, their knife still glistening in the room. The skeleton sighed as he said, “sorry old lady, this is why i never make promises.” Before attacking Frisk's twisted reflection.

 Their battle was mesmerizing, neither one of them wanted to give a single inch to their foe. They were in perfect sync; both could read the other like a book. Eventually the twisted child stopped to take a breath allowing the human to look at their alternate self’s lv in horror. They said, “Level 19, how many people did they…” as Dash replied, “Everyone. Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, and soon to be Sans, Asgore and Flowey…” Frisk asked, “How do you know this?” solemnly Dash replied, “Because I’m not the only player, there are millions more, each with their own copy of your world. When they got the happy ending,  a lot of them wondered what would happen if they did the opposite of befriending everyone. Either that or they just wanted to fight Sans, honestly I can’t blame them, he’s a really cool fight.” They started jamming along to hidden melody and even did a fake guitar riff with their hands. “Even if the scenario’s pretty crap, the music’s awesome right Frisk.” said Dash, “F-Frisk?” They looked over to the teenager and immediately noticed that they were petrified by the revelation.  Before Dash could explain themselves, Frisk ran out of the room, past Sans, past Flowey, and past everything else.  They didn't know where they'd end up, but anywhere was better than here. 

The world started to shift between them, but Frisk didn’t care, they just needed as much distance as possible from Dash and Flowey. “Chara when I find you we are going to block them from ever going into my mind again,” vowed Frisk. They quickly caught their breath and noticed that they were in a midnight-black castle with a storm of human and monster souls in the background. “I guess I stumbled into yet another alternate universe,” said Frisk as they crossed their legs. Their arms started shaking as they looked around them, as if something or someone was watching them. As they steadied their breathing, they soon heard two figures approaching them. Frisk looked away as Dash said, “Frisk, I’m so sorry you had to see that, the idea of someone like you doing that must be-” As Frisk interrupted them, “But I didn’t do that, did I? I didn’t even look human in that universe, just a soulless puppet.” They quivered as they said,  "You could’ve done that to me, couldn’t you?” 

Dash looked down as Frisk continued, “You know, the fact that I’m not the only person you’ve possessed just makes it worse. I know you can’t control me like you could in the Underground, but it’s still horrifying to think about.” The entity looked at Frisk as they said, “Just because I could, doesn’t mean I would.” They continued, “Look, I’m a bit of a sentimental fool, I don’t really like destroying things, your world included. Plus even if I went down that path, I would never be able to come back from it.” Frisk looked up as they said, “What do you mean morally?” as Dash shook their head. “No it’s not that. let’s just say that you aren’t the only person who’d be affected by that route, and I don’t feel like giving up my soul.” The teen bluntly replied, “it seems more like you wanted to save your skin,” as Dash replied, “Even still, I didn’t force you down that path did I?” The ambassador said, “I suppose…” they still didn’t want to look at Dash. “Look, the next time I see something traumatizing, can you please take it seriously,” said Frisk, “I still can’t believe you had the gall to do a guitar riff back there.” That’s understandable,” said Dash, “So are you ready to continue?” Frisk sighed as they stood up and said, “I’m… as ready as I’ll ever be.”

The trio walked through the hall seeing ghastly visages of Asriel around the hallway. Frisk looked towards Flowey as they said, “I still can’t believe you could’ve gone further.” Flowey scoffed, “Obviously, do you seriously think that battle with me was the limit to my power. Plus with all of the souls in this castle I must’ve become far stronger.” The flower deviously grinned as Frisk hesitantly replied, “Yeah, let’s not think about that,” they really didn’t want Asriel to attempt this plan in reality. As they said this, two slightly shorter figures ran through them. One was wearing a purple shirt with the phrase, “Cool Kid” written on it, while the other looked just like Chara. The two of them stopped at several portraits before quickly moving on. “So you two look like friends in this world as well,” said Flowey, as Frisk replied, “Yeah friends.” He noticed that Frisk was weakly grinning as they said. Confused, he looked over to the alternate versions of Frisk and Chara and noticed that they were holding hands. Flowey was rendered completely speechless, he had never even considered the possibility that those two could ever become… that. He grumbled, “I guess anything’s possible in the multiverse.” before moving forward.

The other two followed him as they reached a winding corridor that was surrounded on both sides by rows of pictures. Each of these portraits depicted a version of Chara, one had them in a green hoodie giving Frisk a handshake, one was hanging out with this kid in a cowboy hat, another was an older version talking to a kingly version of Asriel, and finally there was an armored one destroying Frisk’s mercy button. “So these are all the lives that Chara could've lived…” said Flowey, “I’m honestly surprised that some of them seemed to be okay with Humans.” Dash shrugged and said, “Anything’s possible, maybe they just grew up a little bit.” Flowey rolled his eyes, “I don’t think hating their own species came from childishness, they didn’t give me the details but…” He trailed off as he noticed a central picture with an unmistakable beach on it. “That has to be it!” exclaimed Frisk as they ran towards the painting. 

Dash tilted their head as Frisk sat on the rim of the picture. “What are you doing?” said the entity as Frisk replied, “Well if I was able to connect to another Chara through the red knife, then I should also be able to use this. I’m going to jump into it like that plumber in an old 3rd game my orphanage used to have.” The anomaly exclaimed, “I’m surprised a copy of it survived that long,” as Frisk replied, “It’s all because of the beauty of game preservation. Anything over 70 years old has been put up for the public domain, except for anything made by that mouse company. Most of their work has gone up for the public domain, but they still try to act like it hasn’t.” With a small chuckle, Dash said, “I guess some things never change,” as Frisk added, “I guess they really don’t. Heh, let’s do this.” As the trio steeled their spirits, they all jumped into the large portrait as if it was a portal.

The room around them disappeared into a flurry of flashing lights. They were seemingly back to where they began before the world before them slowly took shape…

Connection Complete.

In a bright flash of light, Frisk, Flowey, and Dash were blasted by the blazing sun. Like moles ripped from the earth, It took a while for their eyes to adjust to the surroundings. Flowey moaned, “Is it finally over, why is it so bright here?” Frisk replied, “Well, we are on a beach they’re supposed to be bright.” The flower frowned at Frisk as his vision slowly returned to him. The sand was a soft pasty white and was interlaced with small sea shells and what appeared to be ammonites fossils. It was relatively loose as well, it almost felt like a person could swim through the grains of sand. This beach was directly contrasted by the deep green eden behind them. There were massive rainforest trees that were dwarfed by colossal  medieval-styled towers that seemed to scrape the sky. Speaking of which, the sky was a turquoise blue, as brilliant as any day clear of clouds. The scene around them was perfect, it felt like an island paradise.

“I don’t get it,” said Flowey, “This place looks amazing, why would Chara be sending us a distress signal? If I didn’t know any better I’d guess that they were bragging to us.” Frisk replied, “Well looks can be deceiving, just because this place looks amazing doesn’t mean it is.” As Frisk said this, their eyes squinted as a bright light shined in their eyes. It seemed to be coming off of a strange metal coffin that was near the water’s edge. It was so close to the water that it seemed to be washed by the crashing waves. Frisk immediately knew what this was and rushed over to the box and saw Chara resting inside. They were covered in bright golden flowers that seemed to be half haphazardly thrown in there. Strangely the cover for the coffin was in the water, sticking out like a gravestone. It was quite far from Chara, so whoever moved it must’ve intentionally put it as far away as possible from the fallen human, or they threw it with such force that it landed one hundred feet away from them. 

They were stirring in their sleep, clearly in some kinda pain. As Frisk got closer they started to see why. There were long, spike-like tubes placed into their arms. It looked like a far cruder version of an IV tube, but it didn’t seem to be pumping blood into them, it just seemed to keep them in place. Frisk tried to get Chara's attention but nothing seemed to stir them. “Idiot,” said Flowey, “This is just a memory, they wouldn’t ever see us.” “I know it's just; I don’t like seeing them like this.” said Frisk. They looked around the machine and noticed a label on it, “Body Restorement Coffin.” The human pointed it out to Flowey as they said, “So this is what it's trying to do, were they damaged by the Sköllhati?” The Flower looked at Frisk and said,  “Maybe, but if you ask me then I’d say that their main task is already done.” 

Without warning, Chara's eyes jolted open and stared at the sky above them. Their face had a combination of confusion and fear plastered onto it, they didn’t know where they were nor what had happened to them. The fallen human looked around their coffin before lifting their arm out of the pile of flowers, wincing as they did so. “I'm alive…?” said Chara as observed their arm, “I thought I was…” Their train of thought was severed as they saw the tubes placed into their arms. “I hope these aren’t important.” said Chara as they tore them out of their body. Thankfully these tubes didn’t seem to be directly connected to any blood vessels so they were able to remove them injury-free. 

After taking a deep breath, they weakly crawled out of the coffin. Unfortunately their balance hadn’t returned to them and they faceplanted onto the sand below. They angrily punched the sand in frustration before slowly picking themselves up. This was better said than done as it had been a long time since Chara had really used their body. To make matters worse, the lingering pain that they felt in the coffin still hadn’t gone away. Their legs felt like jelly and it felt like they could buckle under their weight at any moment. They were only able to support themselves by grabbing the rim of the coffin and slowly walked around it. 

Their legs slowly became more stable before they noticed a small sign marked in blood. It read, “Welcome back to the world, Chara Rok-” their face scrunched up as they saw that last name. They abandoned it the second they fell into the Underground, why would anyone still call them that? With an audible huff, Chara angrily picked up an ammonite shell and scraped off the last name. They then made large gashes in the metal that spelled out the word “Dreemurr.”

Chara fell back on their knees before remarking, “some things deserve to be corrected.” As Chara slowly walked away from the sign Frisk asked Flowey, “Was that their original last name?” as Flowey replied, “Most likely.” The ambassador said, “Why do you sound unsure? They probably told you at some point, right.” Cheekily, Flowey said, “Well to be fair, you never told me your original first name, I had to do some snooping for that.” Frisk scoffed, “That’s different, that old name is dead and gone.” The flower chuckled, “Well I’m pretty sure Chara thinks the same way of their family name.” Before he nervously elaborated, “Chara never liked talking about their past, not even to me. The few things they told me didn’t paint a good picture.”

 Frisk nodded as Dash asked Flowey, "Were they abused?” He hesitantly said, “Obviously, while they never said it explicitly, they didn’t need to. Their back was marred with cuts, scars, and bruises, I think I even saw some cigarette burns. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture does it?” Dash shook their head as Flowey continued, “For what it’s worth I know what their biological parents looked like. I can’t forget the faces of the bastards that filled me with bullet holes.” Frisk looked over to Flowey and said “Flowey I-” before the flower waved them off. “It’s alright Frisk, it’s been over one hundred years they’re already dead and gone.” 

As he said this, he looked over to Chara as they walked across the beach. The fallen human was still lightheaded from their time in the coffin, but they were determined to walk through it. They stumbled towards the shore with their legs nearly giving out after every step. It sucked, but they weren’t going to let this obnoxious cramp stop them from exploring. As they took a breath, Chara looked into their reflection on the water and to their surprise they now looked older. Their face was sharper and their once baggy clothes now felt as restrictive as a python's coils, they were clearly in the midst of puberty. It was like they physically grew with Frisk, rather than just staying in the same form that they had when they died. Maybe the years they spent as a spirit in Frisk’s head counted just as much to Sköllhati or whoever restored their body, as the years in which they were alive. 

Strangely, their outfit and hairstyle remained the exact same as when they died, as if it was trapped in time. It was an odd juxtaposition to the rest of the changes that occurred to them after their resurrection. Regrettably though, there was one aspect of Chara’s body that they weren’t a fan of. Upon reaching puberty, the androgynous look they had as a kid seemed to fade away. While Frisk could still pass as any gender, it seemed like puberty was intent on making that an uphill battle for Chara. Thankfully, they knew many ways to rectify and hide this change and if they ever got off this island, that would be the first thing that they’d do. 

 As they finished looking at their reflection, Chara began to walk across the shoreline of the beach. Though something now felt wrong to the fallen human, it felt like someone was watching their every step. They looked over their shoulders as Frisk said, “Do you think they can see us?” Flowey shook his head as he said “No, I think they're just being paranoid, can’t blame them in a place like this though.” Frisk looked away from their petalled ally, even though they didn’t say it, they were starting to feel the same presence as Chara. As they looked around, they noticed something, or someone sitting on a far-off rock formation. 

The being seemed to be lost in thought, not paying attention to either Chara or the three interlopers connected to their mind. Without thinking Frisk waved off in the distance, as Flowey looked at them and back to the figure. “They can’t see you,” scolded Flowey as Frisk shrunk into themselves. They said,  “I know, but I still wish they could. It feels like none of our actions matter in this dream world.” Flowey remarked, “Look if Chara’s getting creeped out by this thing then I don’t think it’s a good idea to get their attention.” “I think it’s getting closer” said Dash as Frisk said, “Well, I guess you have a- wait what” Frisk stopped as the figure rocketed right past them and straight towards Chara. They moved so quickly that Frisk could only see a streak of blue and white.

The figure halted only a few feet behind Chara, creating a large dust cloud as it did that. Chara braced for the small dust storm, covering their eyes with their arms, While squinting Chara yelled, “Ack, who’s there?” as a small shadowy figure appeared in front of them before disappearing with the wind. “Weird…” said Chara as they brushed sand out of their hair, “That was very, very weird.” Unbeknownst to them, the young figure was already right behind them. They zipped away from them right before the revived teenager noticed them. It was almost comical how quickly the kid would move away from Chara; it reminded Frisk of the slapstick shenanigans in extremely old cartoons.

Despite how much they tended to move around, Frisk was able to get a solid look at the figure. They were clearly younger and shorter than Chara, Frisk guessed that they were probably around eight years old. They had a long navy-blue dress with a white stripe in the middle.  it seemed to float effortlessly in the wind as they hovered around Chara. Their hands were oddly mitten-like, the only digits they had were their thumbs, everything else was merged into one “fleshy” structure. The kid had metallic arm cuffs, separating their arms from their dress and a far larger one looped around their neck. These cuffs oddly had arrow-like locks in the middle, with deep green gems in the middle. Their skin was bright blue, and they had long snow-white hair that covered their eyes and their back. At the top of their head were two horn-like locks that surrounded a long spiraling party hat with a white and black streamer. As precious as this little gremlin looked to Frisk, there was something unnerving about them. It was almost as if they were the embodiment of the uncanny valley.

 The kid kept zipping around Chara, like a younger sibling trying to watch their brother or sister play a video game. As they moved around, they occasionally poked Chara in the back and sides. Oddly they seemed to manifest a pointer finger from their odd mitten-like hand. Separating out like wet clay before being seamlessly reincorporated into the mitten-like structure. It made a weird squishing noise as it did this, which Frisk thought that it was extremely disgusting. Regardless of how weird these fingers were, the bizarre child continued to poke at Chara, who was clearly starting to get annoyed. As they reached their wits end, Chara yelled “Stop Poking me! Seriously, who the heck keeps doing that?” In an extremely girly voice, the child cheerfully said “I am.” Chara looked behind them for a second only to turn around to see the kid right in their face. “BOO, did I scare you?” said the kid as Chara fell on their back. She chuckled as she said, “I'll take that as a yes.”

They effortlessly picked Chara off the ground and looked quizzically into their fearful eyes. “Oh silly me, I forgot to introduce myself,” said the kid before dramatically bowing. “I am Princess Pandora, the child of The Void King and Void Queen, though not by blood ~teehee~.” Chara asked, “So you’re adopted…?” as Pandora shook her head, “Nope, I just don’t have any blood. I’m what you would call a robot, or a golem. I prefer golem, it sounds so much cooler.” 

“Alright.” said Chara before taking a step forward and saying, “Greetings I’m Char-” “I already know your name is Chara,” said Pandora dispassionately. “My parents told me all about you, they said you're my Krrzrt.” Dumbfounded Chara exclaimed, “I’m your what?” as Pandora burst out laughing. “Don’t worry I don’t know what it means either. Sometimes my parents say weird things that come out as garbage noise, so I have to do a little bit of guesswork. Personally I think it means prisoner, but you know that’s way too negative. I prefer to think of you as a doll or a pet.” Offended, Chara crossed their arms and venomously grumbled, “I’m no one's pet.” The robot grinned as she said, “We'll see about that.” 

Large streamers erupted from Pandora’s hat and wrapped around Chara’s body like a vice. They tried to wriggle out, but the robot’s grip was way too tight, there was nothing they could realistically do. Chara tried to grab something sharp, but whenever they moved their arm, Pandora only increased the pressure. She hovered over to them and put her hand on their head. With a small smile Pandora said, “I win,”

The golem started patting them as she said, “Look I know this isn’t ideal for you, but trust me, I was the best option my parents could've gone for.” The robot looked off to the side before saying, “Their choices were, umm, less than ideal...” Chara coughed out, “What do you mean by that?” as Pandora replied, “Oh, umm, how do I explain this?” She looked down before saying, “I don’t think you would have lasted long under their care. Sure, they can take care of me but you’re a little bit more fragile than I am. Besides I found you first so I got dibs.” Chara scowled at the child before they suddenly noticed Pandora’s grip slightly loosening. The golem looked up at the sky and saw a small shock wave appear over the horizon. “Someone’s at the barrier right now, stay right here I’ll be back.” said Pandora as she zipped off toward the interloper. As the robot left, Chara picked up two rocks and smacked them together to make a makeshift knife. If they’re going to be stuck here with this crazy robot child for a while, they needed to have a way to defend themselves.  

It took a bit of time, but eventually Chara completed their design. It was extremely crude, but maybe it could help them cut those stupid streamers if Pandora tried to wrap up again. They looked off in the distance and saw the child talking to a strange shadowy figure. “That interloper is far larger than Pandora,” thought Chara, “They’ve got to be around the height of a giraffe.” They looked back at the beach and started to sketch themselves, Frisk and Asriel in the sand. “How did I get myself wrapped up in this?” moaned Chara as they put their hand on their drawing.

Eventually Pandora rushed back over and sighed, “I thought he would never leave.” She looked over at Chara’s drawing and said, “Cool drawing, umm, are they your friends?” After quickly concealing their knife, Chara replied, “Y-yes, well Asriel is also my brother, but me and Frisk are pretty good partners.” Pandora looked downtrodden as she said, “I wish I had friends; the only people who really hang out with me are mom and dad’s employees. Some of them are fun to be around, but most of them only watch me out of obligation…” 

The kid slowly floated to the ground as Chara gave them a sympathetic glance. As much as their behavior freaked them out, there was a part of Chara that felt bad for them. It almost reminded them of their own life before they met Asriel. They asked Pandora, “...Was that guy one of your parent’s employees?” as Pandora replied, “Yeah but he’s one of the fun ones, he always lets me paint butterflies on his beak. He actually really wanted to meet you; he thought you’d have really good taste.”  The teen was a bit puzzled, now their friend having a beak wasn’t that odd to Chara they grew up with monsters after all, it was the second part that gave them pause, They asked Pandora, “What kind of taste were they talking about?” as the child stammered, “O-oh they didn’t clarify, they were just really insistent on it.” “I hope they were talking about media, not something else,” grimly remarked Chara as Pandora grabbed their arm. “Let’s focus on something else, like this island. It’s really cool right?” 

“I guess,” said Chara before they were yanked forward by Pandora.  She said, “You should have some more enthusiasm, not many people get to go to Nostos Island. Most people are stuck out in the void, most of them would kill to have a nice refugai, refugiaia, oh Refugium like this. Do you consider yourself lucky Chara?” “No.” said Chara in the bluntest tone they could manage, as Pandora stammered, “Well you should, after all it’s much safer here than out there. Do you want a tour?” Chara looked off to their side as they said, “I gues-” before Pandora cut them off while exclaiming, “Splendid, let me show you everything.”

She yanked them along, showing off many sights and sounds from around the island. There were large medieval-styled towers that Pandora said were perfect for throwing, hammocks on nearly every tree, and pristine waterfalls that cascaded along many cliffsides. However, something about this place felt off to Chara. They noticed spy cameras on every tree, and the wardrobe that Pandora showed them had dresses that were all in their size. Now Chara wasn’t a big fan of wearing dresses, they had personal reasons for it but never told their family or friends why. On one hand, Pandora absolutely seemed like the sort of child who would give anyone and everyone dresses under the belief that they’d love it. On the other hand, it felt far too targeted to be a coincidence.

All of these thoughts filled Chara’s head as they tried to fall asleep. The room that Pandora gave them looked relatively down with lemon colored wallpaper that peeled at every corner and an equally drap white carpet. It certainly wasn’t anywhere near as impressive as the rest of the island. Despite how shabby the room was compared to its contemporaries, it felt weirdly familiar. Before they met their true family, they had been to hotels with similar layouts before, down to even the same wallpaper. It felt like whoever designed these rooms had an insane amount of knowledge on Chara’s upbringing, that included details that they never even told their brother. Even though they assumed that it was supposed to comfort them, everything about this situation did the opposite. They tried to ignore these feelings as they pulled up their covers over their face. Though before they could settle in, they overheard a heated argument right outside of their room.

Cautiously they walked over to the door and looked through the peephole and saw Pandora talking to a tall, hooded figure. They couldn’t make out many details on the man, only that he seemed to have a brown beard that was rapidly greying and a navy-blue cloak with a black zig zag pattern in the middle. He paced around the hallway while occasionally looking back at Pandora. The man’s actions reminded Chara more of a caged tiger than a human. Pandora meekly said, “D-Dad, I know you’re angry with me, but we need to ease Chara into this. They just woke up in a bizarre new world and they’re scared. We can’t just force them into this…” Chara scowled as they said, “So this is Pandora’s father? He looks a lot more human-like than I expected.” The man stood still before slightly turning towards his daughter. Even though his face was shrouded in darkness, Pandora could tell that he was ticked. Her father suddenly said, “Pandora, lower your defenses to zero.”

Uncomfortably she did as her father commanded; Chara could tell that the kid really didn't want to do this. The king walked up to his daughter and gripped her by the neck. As his daughter choked he sneered in her face, as the foul smell of cigarettes spewed out of his mouth. He said, “Stop messing around Pandora. I don’t care if they’re comfortable. At the end of the day they’re a weapon and they me what do we do with weapons?” Pandora quietly choked out, “U-use them….?” as she saw the Void King nod. “Correctomundo, a weapon’s only purpose is to help its wielder,” said the King as he pinched Pandora’s left cheek, “and Chara will follow in that fate. They'll be our perfect little tool, they just need some guidance in order to get there. Can you do that for me Pandora?” 

She nodded as the Void King slowly lifted her down. He smiled before saying, “Good, it's so good that you're on my side. You know Chara and their …friend… are the only ways we can expand our kingdom beyond what the wolf has given us. Though they will only be able to accomplish this with your guidance. Don’t you want that Pandora, don’t you want to make us happy?” The child nodded before saying, “I-i still don’t get this plan. I mean look at them, they could barely walk around this morning. I can lift islands while they can barely get out of bed, why didn't you just use me?” The king manipulatively cooed, “Because you're our golden child, I won't soil your hands with blood. Besides, even though you're far stronger than the two of them, they still have a power you could never replicate.”

He then stopped and looked over to the door to Chara’s room. He gleefully grinned as he said, “I didn't know we had an audience.” Chara immediately noticed that he somehow spotted them and quickly ran to their bed. They dove under their covers as they heard the cloaked king stomping to their door. The teenager didn't make a sound as the Void King turned the lights on and scanned their room. After taking a deep breath, he saw a lump on the bed and sat right next to it. As much as Chara tried to hide from the Void King, he could easily see their chestnut brown hair sticking out of the covers. He put his hands on their head and said, “Sorry about that, I must’ve scared you.” He sighed as he felt Chara quiver under the blanket, clearly this wasn't working. The king looked over to Chara and said, “you know, when I heard the news of your revival I couldn’t believe my ears. I can’t imagine how that must feel, one hundred years of rest and now you're suddenly back. It must be overwhelming for you.” His face softened before he said, “You were born for a reason, you were born to be great. You never achieved that in your old life, but now you finally have the opportunity to correct that." 

Pandora hovered into the room and sat on the other side of the bed. The Void King looked over to Pandora and said, “We'll be monitoring &^$%’!.” His hands gripped into Chara’s scalp in shock as he said that. Even though the Void King couldn't see it, Chara was wincing under the covers. They could feel the king's nails burrowing into their skull. Unaware of Chara’s pain, the king loudly sighed “We'll be monitoring Their progress. I know you found them first and I don't mind you bonding them, just remember why you’re doing it. If you ever slip up, we'll be forced to take matters into our own hands and you don't want that, right?” Pandora shuffled away from him as he sighed, “I'll take that as a yes.”  

Before he walked out of the room, he looked back at Pandora and said, “You know, I'm glad you're so agreeable Pandora. Honestly it's one of your best qualities and I hope it rubs off on your £¡z$*#. Sorry, I hope it rubs off on your “friend.” Pandora smiled as the Void King slowly closed the door. “See you around my child, " said the Void King as the door finally shut.

 Once the man left the room, Chara curled up into a ball on their bed. They didn't know why, but the way the king said that unnerved Chara. He clearly knew a lot more about them than expected. As they thought this over Flowey remarked, “So I guess the wolf isn't the only person we're up against. You know I can’t say he’s left a good first impression.” Frisk replied, “I know right, god he’s even worse than Jessica, at least she wouldn't choke her own daughter.” The flower nodded as he said, “I know he's trying to put on the image of a caring person, but I can tell that's skin deep.  Deep down he's probably just as soulless as me.” 

Dash looked at themselves and noticed that there were red cubes coming off of their body. They asked Flowey, “Hey Asriel, what are these cubes for?” The flower said, “First of all its Flowey, second of all these cubes indicate that we're going back. In about a minute, we'll be back in Alphys's lab.” Frisk replied, “Honestly that's probably for the best, I can't imagine how much energy this experiment used up.” 

They walked over to Chara as Flowey said, “What are you doing?” The teenager looked back at Flowey and replied, “Well I can't leave without saying goodbye.” The flower laughed, “You know they can't hear you right?” As Frisk replied, “Hey it's the thought that counts.” The flower shrugged as Dash looked over to him and said, “You know, the two of them are a lot closer than I thought.” Predictably Flowey growled as said, “Well let's just hope that they don't get too close. I don't want a repeat of my mom and Sans.” Dash tilted their head as they asked, “What do you mean by that?” as Flowey replied, “I saw a version of them holding hands.” The entity giggled as jokingly said, “Oh no, how scandalous.” The flower sneered as he said, “God you’re an even worse shipper than Alphys.” 

Frisk looked back at the duo and said, “What are you two talking about?” Flowey glared at Dash before saying, “Nothing important.” As the red cubes filled the air, Chara suddenly woke up and looked directly at Frisk. They grabbed Frisk by the arm and soon everything was replaced by a black void. While Flowey was able to go back, Frisk was still in the dream.  

“Frisk, what are you doing here?” said Chara as they looked at their partner. Frisk smiled as they replied, “I got your message, I don’t get why you showed me a dream of yourself lifting your arm, but it’s better than nothing.” Chara smiled as they said, “Honestly that was the best I could manage. Honestly I wasn’t sure if any of that message would have reached you.” The ambassador laughed as they said, “It reached Flowey as well,” Chara looked surprised but quickly regained their composure. They then said, “I don’t have a lot of time, Frisk you have got to find a way to get me off of this island. I don’t know what the Void King and Queen have planned for me but given Pandora’s reaction…I-it can’t be good.” The Ambassador looked down before they said, “I’ll free you, don't worry. I’m not going to let that robot, and her horrible parents turn you into their weapon.” 

Chara then laughed, “And your friends are helping too right? Frisk you can’t be telling you’re planning on doing this alone.” They then noticed Frisk's face hadn’t lost any amount of foolish optimism, “Oh god you’re planning on going alone, aren't you?” “Maybe…?,” said Frisk, “If I was able to travel throughout the underground when I was twelve, I can brave the Void at Fourteen.” They stopped as soon as they noticed Chara’s face darkening. “Frisk, this world isn’t like the Underground,” said Chara, “If you try to rush in here alone you’ll be eaten alive out there, you need help.” The ambassador shook their head, “I-I know but, if this is what they’re planning to do to you, I don’t want to know what they’ll do to my friends. Besides, Sans told me how much of a risk it is to tell people about Sköllhati’s existence so if I tell more people…” They thought back to Dash telling everyone about a wolf shaped entity, even if it wasn’t explicit confirmation of Sköllhati, it was still too close for comfort.

“L-look,” said Frisk, “I'm still going to be bringing back up, just not everyone, the less the better.” “You can't be serious,” said Chara as Frisk replied, “I am super serious.” The fallen human yelled, “Frisk. Your. Plan. Is. A. Death. Sentence. All you're going to do is get yourself killed.” Frisk looked down as they said, “better me than them.” Chara looked at Frisk in disbelief as they said that they knew that Frisk was reckless but this was taking things to a whole other level. “A-anyway,” said Frisk, “Do you know how to get past the barrier?” “Frisk, I don't think we should ignore what you just said,” exclaimed Chara. “It’s nothing,” said Frisk, “please, just work with me.”

“I wish I could help you but…” said Chara before saying, “I don't know.” Frisk looked at their partner before saying, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” The revived human exhaled, “Now you know how I’ve felt for over a week. I’ve tried asking her several times how to get out of here, but all she does is dismiss me and say that it’s hopeless. Do you know what it feels like, to know that your entire world is breaking apart and you’re stuck on the sidelines, this has to be some kind of sick joke.” Their counterpart mused as Chara said that, they had to admit Chara was in a remarkably similar position to them. “You’re telling me, over the past week I’ve basically been stuck at home all because I tried to stop one of those glitched objects.” Chara sighed, “I guess we’re both in the same boat huh.” As they said this Frisk claimed, “Not anymore. I don’t care if they see me as a kid, I don’t care if I’m out of my depth, I’m not going to sit on the sidelines anymore and neither will you.” 

Chara smiled as Frisk said this only to notice that their connection was starting to slip apart. “What’s going on?” asked Frisk as Chara replied, “I knew that this wasn’t going to last forever. Look, do you want to save me? Because I think I might have a lead.” Frisk said, “Go on,” as Chara continued, “Pandora told me that she’s the only person that is able to slip by this barrier, but she also told me she was a robot. That means she has a creator, and if they were able to give this power to her then maybe they can give it to you.”  The world started to glitch out far more than before, even Chara was disappearing in the static of the void. “Chara, wait!” yelled Frisk before their vision faded and they woke up in their pod. 

“I just wanted to…” said Frisk, “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” They stared up into the visor in front of their eyes, before saying, “But, you told me enough. Now we know where you’re trapped and a possible way to free you. I promise to break you out of there as soon as possible, it is finally time for me to ACT.”

Chapter 7: Dumpster Diving

As soon as they got up, Frisk realized that something was wrong. The smell of burning metal filled the air as the pod was being filled with smoke. They heard bones hit the sides of the shell like a pinata. Someone was even trying to hit the window of the pod with a crowbar. To their horror, Frisk quickly realized that the machine overheated with them trapped inside!

Thinking on their feet, they grabbed the latch on the door and heaved it with all their might. It didn't budge; the door was completely jammed. They needed to do something else, or else they'd be lost to the cloud of smoke. Frisk curled up into a ball, and started kicking the door, even though it felt pointless, what else could they do? Wait to suffocate? Not on their watch. The teen continued to attack the door, before seeing a dent form on the metallic hood of the pod. They smiled, now was their chance! 

Frisk smacked the door with all their might, knocking it off like a bottlecap. It clattered onto the floor as they took in their first real breath in over an hour. Even the dingy air from the underground lab felt crisp compared to the toxic fumes that once filled their lungs. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of their shoulders.

. Before they could relax, Frisk was scooped up into Toriel’s arms, as she ran away from the machine. She patted their back like an infant as Papyrus rushed over and sprayed the machine down with an ABC Fire Extinguisher. He asked,  “THEY’RE SAFE RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME THEY’RE SAFE.” Toriel nodded before giving Alphys a venomous glare. “I thought you said it would be safe,” said Toriel as Alphys replied,  “T-they were supposed to be, I don’t what caused them to stay in there that long.” She ran over to Frisk and said, “Frisk I’m so so sorry. Y-you were supposed to  be in there for the same time as Flowey. When the machine overloaded we did everything to get you out, but nothing seemed to work.” 

She crumbled down to the ground while muttering, “w-why do I always screw everything up?” The teenager wanted to say something, but their throat felt as dry as the Sahara Desert. It hurt for them to even croak out a word, let alone reassure Dr.Alphys that they were fine. Before they could speak Toriel said, “Dr.Alphys, please do not use Frisk as a test subject anymore. That was too close of a call for comfort.” In a hoarse voice, the teen retorted, “...Ms.Toriel, it wasn't her fault, it…was…it was an accident.” 

Toriel's glare softened as she said, “I know that, I just feel like she could have done a better job testing it before using it on you.” Sans retorted, “actually she did everything correctly,  based on the schematics frisk should have emerged at the same time as flowey. i don’t think she should be blamed for a one and a million freak accident.” Sheepishly, Frisk looked down at the ground. They knew that malfunction wasn't just a freak accident, but they doubted that Toriel would accept who was really responsible for it. 

“You have a point,” said Toriel as she looked over Alphys, “Sorry Alphys, you know how I get when kids are placed in danger.” The scientist slowly nodded as Toriel continued, “Please tell me you found out where the rift is? I do not want this to be for nothing.” Alphys nodded while saying, “N-No worries, I got the readings before the machine overheated. Based on the information the origin of the rift is at the bottom of…” Her throat tightened as she looked over the results. “I-it’s at the bottom of Wa-Wat” stumbled Alphys before Sans said, “waterfall.” He glanced at Alphys with a sympathetic look in his eyes. Even if he didn’t know all of the details, the skeleton knew enough. He knew that this was the place where Alphys had met Undyne, as well as the place where Alphys had considered taking her own life.

“you don’t have to go there if you don’t want to,” said Sans as he placed a hand on her shoulder. The reptilian scientist replied, “I-i think I have to, there’s a lot of research that can only be done if we're close to it. Still I refuse to go down there by myself, I’m going to need some help, lots of help.” She pulled out her phone and called Undyne as she exited the room. “Hey Undyne, something came up when we were doing the experiment… I’m going to need your aid.” 

Papyrus looked down as he said, “OF ALL THE PLACE IT HAD TO BE, WHY DID HAVE TO BE DOWN THERE?” Sans looked up to his little brother and said, “i dunno, i mean frisk is a fan of eating trash, so maybe-” Papyrus yelled, “SANS THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES, LOOK AT HOW TRAUMATIZED SHE WAS, WE NEED TO TREAT THIS MISSION WITH THE UTMOST RESPECT.” Sans shrugged as he said, “fair enough, though i still don’t know why it formed there, it feels weirdly specific.” The younger skeleton rubbed his eyebrows as he said. “I MEAN IT COULD’VE BEEN WORSE, FOR ALL WE KNOW THE RIFT COULD’VE BEEN FORMED IN VACUUM OF SPACE. STILL THOUGH, THIS IS FAR FROM IDEAL.” 

Frisk smiled as they wheezily said, “I..I don’t know, I could’ve gone for a space adventure.” Sans agreed as he said, “yeah can you imagine it, all those planets, on the wall of the bedroom, seems like it would be relaxing. Papyrus bemoaned, “SANS, THAT’S JUST A SPACE HOTEL, NOT A SPACE ADVENTURE.” Sans shrugged as he said, “welp it be a good adventure for me, i’m not built for all of this world-saving nonsense.” 

Dryly, Papyrus remarked, “THAT HAS BECOME WAY TOO APPARENT, I SWEAR YOU DID NOTHING YESTERDAY BUT WATCH THAT DUMB SHOW WHILE I COLLECTED ALL OF THE GLITCHED OBJECTS.” As he said this, Papyrus grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and said, “PLUS THIS PHENOMENA IS SPREADING ACROSS THE WORLD.” 

He pulled out his phone and showed Sans multiple photos of famous landmarks with the infamous blue cracks on them. The Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower, even the Statue of Liberty all had these infamous tears on them. The younger skeleton sighed as he said, “WITH EVERYTHING FALLING APART IT’S ENOUGH TO MAKE A GROWN MAN DRINK” He unscrewed the cap on the water bottle as Frisk wriggled their way out of Toriel’s grasp. 

They walked over to Papyrus and held their arms out while motioning to the water bottle. “O-OH RIGHT YOUR THROAT’S PROBABLY STILL SORE FROM THE SMOKE,” said Papyrus, “HERE, YOU PROBABLY NEED IT MORE THAN ME.” He gave them another bottle of water and the teenager chugged it down like their life depended on it. 

With a refreshed sigh, Frisk said, “Thanks Paps, I really needed that.” They looked behind them and said, “Anyway I’m going to check on Flowey, even if he got out before me I should still see if he’s doing okay.” Toriel sighed as she said, “I suppose it will not hurt, still be careful with him you know as well as I that he can be quite volatile.” The teen gave her an understanding nod before running towards him.

As they approached, they saw the flower ripping apart a couple of friendliness pellets in the shape of a cloaked figure. He seemed lost in thought as he did this, as if destroying these effigies would harm the man in question. Frisk poked one of his petals and Flowey dropped the petal he was in the middle of breaking. He put on a smug facade as he said, “Seems like someone doesn’t want to be carried around like a baby, Decide to come over to the adult’s table?” Frisk retorted, “Hey I’ve never liked being carried around like a baby, plus neither of us are adults. Anyways…” They leaned up close and whispered, “How much do you remember from the dream?” Immediately the flower replied, “I remember all of it. All of the alternate versions of Chara, the island cage they’re forced to live in, how much I want to turn the Void King face into mulch. Yep I think I remember all of it”

 He shuffled over to Frisk and said, “Though I have to ask, what happened when I was gone? I saw Chara grab your arm and was immediately brought back to reality, I need answers.” The human shrugged as they said, “Not much, they just tried to warn me about some of the dangers in the void. They also told me to bring a lot of people in there, just in case anything gets too hairy.” The Flower sighed as he said, “Oh thank god, for a second I was worried that two of you were kissing.” Frisk’s face went red as they exclaimed, “W-why would you even think that?” Flowey replied, “Well after Sans befriended my mom I’ve been a little bit more on guard.” Unbeknownst to Flowey, Sans perked up as he heard his name mentioned. The teen nervously laughed out, “anyway I think you’re a little bit too paranoid, we’re just friends.” 

Awkwardly they continued, “A-anyway, we should probably focus on making a rescue plan.” The Flower grinned as he said, “I’ve got one,” Frisk excitedly exclaimed, “Really, what is it?” The flower cheekily said, “Well we could go to a retirement home and-” before Frisk objected, “Flowey we are not killing people, especially not senior citizens.” Their petalled pal barely held in a laugh before saying, “I can’t believe you fell for that. Though seriously we are going to need some firepower, if Pandora and the King are anything to go off of, our current tools won’t cut it.” The ambassador put their fist on their cheek as they remarked, “You’ve got that right, and I’m not even sure if Alphys has enough time to whip us something new” 

The flower sighed, “Give her some credit Frisk, she was able to create that machine in a week. It shouldn’t be hard for her to make some cool new weapons in record time. Besides, anything that can plant the Void King in the flipping dirt is a win in my book.” He pounded his vines together like massive fists to emphasize this point.  “You know I consider myself a pacifist,” said Frisk, “buuuuuuuuuut, that guy definitely crossed a line. I mean he choked his own daughter, what do you think he’d do to Chara?” The flower puffed his stem out as he said, “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.” 

“what are you two talking about?” asked an unknown voice.  Frisk leaped backwards and put their arms in a defensive position, protecting themselves like a nervous martial artist. They eased up once they noticed it was just their lazy skeleton roomie. “S-sans you can’t just sneak up on us like that,” said Frisk with an exasperated voice. The skeleton simply shrugged as he said, “why not it got your attention? anyways, you still haven’t answered my question.” The human stammered out, “W-we were just talking about what we saw in the machine, nothing more, nothing less.” Sans stretched his back while saying, “welp you must’ve seen someone really bad in that machine. because if even frisk wanted to kick their ass, then that’s really telling.” The flower and human exchanged glances with each other, just how much did Sans overhear from their conversation?

Sans put his hands in his pockets as he said, “anyways there’s another reason why i’m talking to you. me and alph want to make sure there are no adverse side effects from the experiment, you know outside of the accident.” Frisk looked down at the skeleton as they said, “You outside of inhaling a lot of smoke and some blurry vision I think I’m alright.” Flowey laughed while saying, “pfft, yeah because possible lung damage is perfectly fine.” The teen gave him a furious glare as Sans remarked, “welp, we should still do an interview. even if we know where the rift is now, we have a clue what we’re up against. you know outside of her , maybe you two can help us fill in the blanks.” 

Frisk looked back at Papyrus and Toriel, and whispered to Sans, “Can we talk about this in private? I really don’t want to rope them into this, especially not Toriel.” Sans nodded before saying, “fair enough, i honestly feel the same way about bringing paps along.” He added, “you know,  you’re doing a far better job at keeping secrets than during the meeting.” The ambassador asked, “what’s that supposed to mean?” as Sans replied, “welp you indirectly told jessica about you know who, even if she didn’t take you seriously, that was still an extremely risky move.” Frisk lifted an eyebrow, before smacking themselves with the palm of their hand while saying, “That was Dash not me. Good god, I can’t believe they made me say that.” They pulled at their cheeks in embarrassment before Sans replied, “just keep them under control next time” Frisk nodded as they said, “I'll try…” before looking away. 

Sans walked over to the adults in the room and smacked his palms together. He said “alright i think these two are ready for a one-on-one session with me and alphys. we just gotta check their vitals and all.” Toriel asked him, “And what about me and Papyrus?” as the skeleton replied, “you two are going to stay here, they definitely saw some weird stuff during the experiment that might distress you.” The goat woman replied, “And yet you are bringing Alphys along with you. Look I understand not wanting to bring Papyrus along.” She heard that skeleton say “HEY!” before continuing, “But why am I being excluded? Why can I not be in the room with them?”  Sans looked down as he said, “welp it was their decision not mine, if it makes you feel any better i’ll send you a transcript. heh I’ll even add some knock knock jokes for you.” Toriel’s expression softened as she said, “please take this seriously.” as the skeleton replied, “hey, knock knock jokes are serious business. besides it’s better to be in good spirits than the alternative.” Toriel wiped away a tear before hugging Sans as Flowey bitterly remarked, “those two are way too sappy.”

“Still if there is anything important in the meeting,” said Toriel, “Please tell me. I do not want to be left in the dark anymore, especially if Frisk’s life is in danger.” A single tear went down Flowey’s face as Toriel said this before he roughly wiped it away. “heh, i’ll try my best,” said Sans as Toriel replied, “Promise?” The skeleton said, “you know how i feel about promises right tori?” as she said, “I know, but please do this for me.” He mulled it over before saying, “deal,” as Toriel gave him a faint smile. He walked over to Frisk and Flowey and said, “so are you two ready to go?” Frisk nodded before being teleported out of the room. Alphys walked back into the lab and said, “Good news, Undyne is going to be here in five mi-” before being teleported as well. 

“where exactly are we?” asked Frisk as Sans replied, “oh it’s just an old abandoned classroom, i don’t think anyone has been here in years.” While Frisk would ordinarily believe him, the faded graffiti on the walls suggested otherwise. While trying to avoid the broken tiles along the ground, Frisk hesitantly said, “O-okay, let’s start from the beginning…” They proceeded to tell the two scientists every detail of their vision to Sans and Alphys. There were times that the scientists got confused by a detail, or thought that something seemed outlandish, but Flowey was always there to back them up. It felt good to get this off of their chest, they weren’t a fan of hiding what they saw to the others, even if it was done for their safety. 

As they finished talking, Sans asked them,  “so are you sure you saw our world's chara? I mean, that world really didn’t feel like the void.” Alphys replied, “Well it lines up with both of their dreams, besides, I made sure that they would link specifically to our universe's version of them. The link would have failed if they were still dead.” The skeleton brought his hands together while saying, “i know but it's still a lot to take in. i thought we were just going to have to find chara in the void and talk to sköllhati, but now we have to deal with an evil king and his automaton daughter. honestly, I’d rather take a nap than deal with those two.” Alphys admitted that, “Not gonna lie, i-it’s pretty alarming. For all we know the Void King might have an entire army up his sleeves, or worse…”

“Or worse?” asked Frisk as Alphys replied, “Pandora mentioned that she had caretakers, for all we know they might be just as strong as her.” Frisk thought about for a moment, while Pandora was extremely strong she also seemed to be extremely obedient. She clearly didn’t want to lower her defenses when talking to her father and yet she did it anyway. Maybe she wasn’t as difficult to control as Alphys thought, which was an even scarier thought. Who knows what she could accomplish thanks to his order. “He did call Pandora a superweapon,” muttered Frisk, “If she wasn’t bluffing about being able to lift an island then-” As Flowey interjected, “Then we’ll just slip past her, we don’t need to fight the little tyke we just need to get Chara out of there.” The reptilian scientist admitted, “He does have a point.” “Oh and if anything goes hairy we can use the smiley trashbag as a meat shield,” continued Flowey. “Scratch that,” said Alphys, “He had a point.” The flower replied, “I guess you’re right, I doubt Sans would even be durable enough to serve as one.” The scientist yelled “Flowey!” while glaring at him.

Frisk interjected, “Regardless of Flowey’s terrible idea, we should probably get going. We have less than three weeks now, so we can't afford to sit around anymore.” Sans looked over to Frisk and said, “fair enough kiddo, still we should probably do a scouting mission before we get ahead of ourselves.” The human tilted their head as they said, “What do you mean?” as Sans replied, “welp my shortcuts only work with places i’ve already been to, so if i find pandora’s island.” “We can teleport everyone to it immediately.” exclaimed Frisk, “Sans you’re a genius.” The skeleton laughed, “i do my best, also just for the record, if flowey tries his plan with me i’d just teleport in front of him.”  

As he said this Flowey said, “Ha, you’d still die there’s no way my tiny body would protect you from anything.” The skeleton laughed as he said, “and the guy with one hp is any better? come on prince, you know how illogical this is.” “P-prince,” said Flowey, “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” The bag of bones got up and said, “sorry but my theory is as real as it gets.” The flower roared, “Listen here you mayonnaise-encrusted piece of sh-” before Sans teleported him and the rest of the quartet back to the lab. “You didn’t let me finish,” grumbled Flowey while the skeleton only chuckled at him. Alphys walked over to a table and started to modify hers and Sans’s phones. She thought that giving them the same jetpack upgrade that Frisk’s phone had would be beneficial to reaching the bottom of the falls. As she worked, Sans looked around and quickly noticed that Toriel was nowhere to be seen and he asked his bro, “so where’s tori?” 

Papyrus explained, “WELL SHE SAID SHE HAD TO GO UPSTAIRS FOR SOMETHING, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT WAS BUT I SHOULDN’T PRY. ANYWAYS ARE FRISK AND FLOWERY DOING ALRIGHT?” His brother replied, “they’re doing as well as can be, anyway we should be getting going.” Papyrus said, “WAIT BUT YOU JUST GOT BACK,” as Sans replied, “yeah but the kid was very insistent.” 

Before he could teleport away, Toriel walked down the stairs with Undyne in tow. She looked over to Toriel and asked, “Are you sure Frisk is going to like this? They’ve always been a bit reckless.” The goat woman sighed and said, “And that is something they need to halt.” In her hands was a glossy red mining cap with an electronic light that she immediately presented to Frisk. The former queen said, “If you are going back to the Underground, you should wear this.” Frisk waved their hands in front of them and said, “Look, I appreciate the gesture, but I’m fine.” The goat woman shook her head, “No you are not. Frisk over a week ago you fell from a crane and today you nearly choked to death on smoke.” The human replied, “Yeah but I survived,” as Toriel strapped the hat on them. “That is not the point, you still should not be taking that risk,” said the former queen. “You have people who care about you, they would all be devastated if you got hurt. Please do not forget that.” As Toriel walked towards the exit, she looked back at them and asked, “It’s not too tight right?” Frisk remarked, “It's a bit embarrassing,” as Toriel hushed them. “There is nothing embarrassing about safety.” 

“Hah, you look ridiculous,” said Flowey as Frisk replied, “Keep mocking me and I’ll tell her who you really are.” The flower’s smug expression melted away as Frisk said those words. He scowled as Frisk gleefully smiled at him; they had clearly won this round.  Sans rolled his eyes as he said, “honestly at this point it shouldn’t be a huge mystery, a bigger one is how you got here so quickly. i thought you were on patrol today?” The fish woman said, “I was but after I told the chief what was happening with Alphys, he encouraged me to come over here.” The skeleton shrugged as he said, “fair enough,” before putting a hand on Frisk and Alphys’s shoulders. He then said, “are you two ready?” Flowey wrapped himself around Frisk’s arm and said, “I was born ready.” Sans nodded before he, Frisk ,Alphys and Flowey teleported out of the room. Unbeknownst to the others, Undyne went along for the ride as well. 

As Frisk opened their eyes they first thing they noticed was how much disrepair the Underground was in. There were enormous cracks along the walls from which static was pouring out of. The ground was covered by a battlefield of shattered stones and debris; it felt like the entire world was breaking apart. “What happened here?” asked Frisk, as Alphys replied, “T-this has to be Sköllhati’s doing. Waterfall would logically be ground zero for her destruction.” To everyone’s surprise a new voice said, “so this is what it did to our old home.” Frisk and Alphys looked back in shock as they saw Undyne standing behind them. “U-Undyne, how did you get here?” said Alphys as her wife explained, “I grabbed onto Sans’s shoulder as he teleported away, besides didn’t you want me here?” Alphys admitted, “O-of course, you just didn’t have to do it so quietly.” Her wife shook her head and said, “Naw that would ruin the surprise, plus I’m not going to miss your little isekai journey”

Alphys raised an eyebrow as she said, “Isekai? Why would you think this is anything like an isekai?” Undyne replied, “Well we’re going to another world right? So it’s kinda like an isekai.” The scientist sighed, “I guess that’s right…” before she looked at the deep dark abyss below. She started shaking as she stared deeper and deeper into the darkness, as long-dead thoughts haunted her mind. Undyne hesitantly approached Alphys, her steps were as quiet as a falling feather. She had seen that look on Alphys’s face and while under normal circumstances she’d just comfort her, today was different. From what she heard, Frisk had nearly suffocated in an electrical fire and Alphys had blamed herself, if there was any day where Alphys would relapse it was this one. “Alphys…” said Undyne as the scientist in question replied, “L-let’s do this another day. I-i don’t have any flying equipment with me, so any attempt to jump down there would…be fatal.” 

Undyne bit her lip before saying, “That’s probably a good idea, I mean maybe you could use a jetpack but I’m not sure if we have enough of those?” Alphys shook her head, “yeah, plus we don’t know how deep this hole goes, we might not even have enough fuel for a round trip.” Sans picked up a rock and threw it off the side of the bottomless falls, he didn’t hear it plop onto the potential water below. As Sans did this, Frisk noticed a hooded figure in the distance quietly observing the quintet's dilemma. “yeah alphys, i don’t think those jetpacks would work, heck i didn’t hear even a single stone hit the surface of the water,” said Sans, “it probably goes down for miles.” He thought this over before Frisk pulled his sleeves and pointed to the figure while saying, “I think I know someone who can help.”

“is that the river person?” said Sans, “How long have you been standing here?” The figure replied, “I’ve been here longer than you can imagine. A small gray skinned child told me that you would need my aid, so I’ve been waiting patiently for you all.” Flowey asked, “Have you ever left your post? I thought that you would’ve abandoned this place like everyone else.” The River Person sighed as they said, “I am bound to these waters, so leaving the caverns would be nearly impossible. I would not be able to find new employment even if I desired it.” The human looked up at them and asked, “Well maybe we can give you some work. There’s a massive cataclysm happening on the surface, and the only way to stop it involves going down to the bottom of these falls. So could you please bring us down there?” The Hooded Figure nodded and said, “I can but it's not for the faint of heart, there's some things down there that might disturb you.” Frisk pumped their fists in the air and said, “I’m ready for anything.”

The quintet all got onto the boat with one exception. The reptilian scientist hesitated to go onto the vessel; her pupils were shrinking as she thought of even stepping on it. Undyne walked over to her wife and said, “Alph I know you’re scared, but these guys aren’t going to find the rift without your help. If it makes you feel any better I’ll hold onto your hand until we get down there. Does that sound like a plan.” Alphys nodded as she and Undyne got onto the ship.

It moved at a slow pace as it approached the edge of the waterfall. “You might want to hold onto something,” said the river person before the ship careened down the waterfall. Everyone grabbed the side of the boat for dear life, Frisk even grabbed Flowey before he could be swept away by the massive gust of wind. The boat then grew cat-like legs and grabbed onto the side of the wall. As the ship stabilized the Riverperson said, “Dragons, Angels, Tyrants there are many dangers that await you in this distant land. Will you survive? Only time can tell.” Flowey replied, “Are you intentionally trying to be ominous?” but the River Person ignored him. 

The boat skidded to a slow stop as it reached the bottom of the falls. They exited into a small lagoon with beautiful crystalline structures erupting from the water. Or it would have been beautiful if the putrid stench of human garbage didn't fill the air. Frisk could see the remains of garbage bags stained on the crystals and many more were below the water. This little world was the perfect juxtaposition between beauty and human waste.

Sans looked to the River Person and imitated a hat tip. “pleasure doing business with you,” the river person nodded and said, “Tell Papyrus I said hi.” Frisk looked over to Sans and said, “Do you two know each other?” as the skeleton replied, “oh we go way back. they used to cut up apples for papyrus, they still try to keep in touch.” Frisk nodded as they said, “hmm, interesting,” before clenching their head as they started to fall into the water. Sans hauled them up and said, “kiddo what the heck is happening to you?” As Frisk replied, “Dash is freaking out about something stupid.” 

Sans sighed as he said, “you know i am kinda worried about that anomaly.” The human replied, “Honestly same, especially after I saw that world.” The skeleton put his arms over his shoulder while saying, “Frisk that wasn’t you.” As Frisk retorted, “It could’ve been.” The skeleton sighed as he said, “yeah but it’s not, just because you're terrible in one universe doesn’t mean you’re a bad person here. honestly i doubt that every version of me is a good person.” Frisk asked him, “So do you think there’s a world where Jerry is a good person?” as Sans replied, “hey don’t get too speculative.” The two of them laughed at the idea as the rest of the quintet walked forward. 

Alphys tried to block out Sans and Frisk’s odd conversation by looking over at her scanner. She could tell that she was getting closer and closer as the distance got smaller on her screen. The number of feet away from the rift diminished with each passing step. Unfortunately, all it led them to looked like nothing more than a dead end. Undyne looked down at Alphys and asked, “Is something wrong with your tracker?” Alphys nervously replied, “n-no, based on my readings it should be here. Maybe it’s behind this massive wall.” 

Frisk leaned on it and said, “Really you think it’s right behind here?” She nodded as Frisk said, “well it’s worth a try,” before trying to get away from it. Bizarrely they realized that something was blocking them from moving forward, as if their back was stuck to the wall. “Umm guys,” said Frisk as they realized to their horror that they had melded with the wall itself. The adults rushed over to Frisk and tried to pull them out of this stony prison. Unfortunately, their pulling had the opposite effect as Frisk slipped and clipped through the stone wall. 

“Frisk!” exclaimed Alphys as she ran to the wall, “Frisk can you hear me?” She paced around the room and muttered, “Don’t let this be like Jojo’s part 2, please don’t let this be like Jojo’s part 2.” Flowey remarked, “Looks like she’s talking about nerd shit again, as Undyne nudged him. Unexpectedly, Frisk replied, “..yeah I can hear you, no worries I’m still alive.” Alphys wiped a droplet of sweat as she said, “Thank god, a-alright I know you don’t have much of a choice but I’m going to need to stay close. We're going to find a way to get you out of there.” Sans replied, “you there might already be a way to do that. hey undyne, you're good at suplexing boulders, you think you’re up for the challenge.” A distant “hell yeah!” could be heard from the other side of the wall as Frisk clicked on the light for their hat. 

“Guys you might want to hold off on that,” said Frisk as they walked around the room. There were six unlit torches surrounding a massive…door? That resembled a closed mouth. The stalagmites and stalactites that formed a monstrous toothy grin. It looked like a massive beast ready to devour any poor soul that was unlucky enough to fall down here. They squinted above it and saw a sign that said, “We Six Lights were lost to the King, ignite our souls so that we can take wing. Don’t be in dismay, for we will light your way. Though take heart and make sure the dyes are right or else you will be set alight.”

The teenager put their pointer finger on their chin as they said, “What the heck does that mean?” They stubbed their toe on a platform that contained six beads on a platter, one cyan, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue and one purple. A faint voice rang in their head, “Maybe it’s connected to the fallen humans,” as Frisk said, “Well that much is obvious Dash, still make sure the dye is right? What does that mean?” The kid absentmindedly put the orange bead on the first torch, as a loud [incorrect] buzzer could be heard throughout the cave. “What are you doing?” asked Dash as Frisk said, “Experimenting what else.” before suddenly the smell of gasoline came in from the mouth of the door.  It suddenly roared to life and breathed out a massive stream of fire at Frisk. If they didn’t cling to the walls for dear life, they would have been cooked alive by the flames. 

“You should take this more seriously,” yelled Dash as Frisk replied, “I know, I know. Shoot, I was almost cooked medium well, not going to let that happen again.” They apprehensively put the yellow bead on the rightmost torch, they braced themselves for the inevitable but all they got was a flickering yellow flame and a loud ding. “Okay it seems to be connected to the order in which the fallen humans fell down,” said Frisk as they put the Blue Bead to the left of it, getting the same results. They grabbed the cyan and orange beads next and placed the two of them on the left most torches and got the same results. They sighed in relief, before looking at the two final beads, the green and purple beads. Frisk knew that the Cyan and Orange souls were the first ones to enter the Underground after Chara’s death, while the Blue and Yellow souls were the most recent ones to fall other than them, but the Green and Purple souls were a mystery. 

It had been long enough that most people had forgotten about the adventures about the two of them. They tried to call Toriel, but their signal seemed to be jammed down here, maybe the portal was preventing them from “cheating.” “What order do you think they were in?” asked Frisk as Dash replied, “I’m honestly not sure, this doesn’t seem to line up with the areas where we found their weapons.” Frisk hesitantly said, “actually that might not be a completely terrible idea.” as they placed the purple bead next to the blue one. They squinted their eyes before thankfully getting a positive ding, before placing the green bead next to the orange and purple ones. Frisk slumped down to the ground, satisfied but terrified by what could’ve happened if they had guessed incorrectly. 

“How did you find that out?” asked Dash as Frisk replied, “I trusted my gut; besides I remember someone telling me that the Blue and Purple souls had a special connection so it didn’t feel right to separate them.” The entity sighed as it said, “Well I’m just glad your little gamble actually worked, good job kiddo.” Frisk smiled as the wall behind them crumbled away Sans, Flowey, Alphys and Undyne rushed into the room. They all brought Frisk into a loving bear hug. “G-guys you’re going to crush me,” said Frisk as Undyne replied, “Don’t be ridiculous, it’s going to take a lot more than that to crush you.”

She placed them onto the ground and said, “You know I’m a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to move away all those boulders in time, but given that they were clipping through my hands, that might’ve been for the best.” Frisk nodded as Undyne leaned onto her knees and said, “Either way, I’m glad that you were able to find your own way out, even if it was through a dumb puzzle.” Sans replied, “hey don’t knock puzzles, paps is a huge fan of them, as Undyne replied. “I know but that doesn’t make them any less boring.” She looked over to Alphys and asked, “So honey, is this where the rift is?” Alphys replied, “Based on the readings it should be on the other side of this door.” As if on command, the large stalagmite mouth opened up revealing a hallway with a glowing blue wormhole at the end of it.

Frisk ran into it first, followed by Undyne, Sans, Alphys and then even Flowey. They all grabbed each other's hands and Frisk asked, “So are we all ready?” Sans nodded, Alphys said, “It might be helpful to see up close, Undyne said, “Of course.” And Flowey said, “Is that even a question, let’s do this.” Frisk smiled as they said, “Alright, three, two, one, Geronimo!!!” as they all leaped  into the unknown. 

Chapter 8: Enter the Unknown

When Frisk initially jumped into the portal, they felt as brave as a lion. Sure they had nearly suffocated to death in Alphys’s machine an hour earlier and were nearly incinerated by the cave’s defenses, but none of that phased them. Because even if their life was in peril, it was still better than waiting on the sidelines. No more waiting through monotonous meetings and week-long groundings, now was finally their chance to go on an adventure. It had been two long years since they had this feeling, and now it was finally their chance to prove their medal and save the world. Unfortunately their enthusiasm evaporated as soon as they exited the portal. 

 

The world before them was as black as a moonless night. The only visible lights were glowing blue wires and occasional flashes of lightning. To make matters worse, they barely even keep their footing as it was as windy as a hurricane in autumn. If they weren’t careful they’d either be zapped by lightning or be swept away by the raging cyclone. Sensing no other way, they ran behind a large boulder wrapped their arms around the sides of their body. They muttered, “I wish I brought a coat.” as they shivered for any hint of warmth. Unfortunately, the tempest was indifferent to their suffering and whistled as loud as a freight train as a way to spite them. Frisk was soon joined by Sans, Flowey and Alphys, only Undyne was brave and defiant enough to withstand the raging gale. In spite of that, even she was struggling to keep her balance.

 

Worried about the safety of his companions, Sans looked over to Frisk and asked, “so do you want to call it quits kiddo?” They shook their head and replied, “n-no we can’t stop now, we just got in here.” The rotund skeleton sighed before reminding them, “frisk, this is just supposed to be a quick peak, we can do the actual mission later.” The teen thought this over before saying, “y-yeah, but we’re running out of time, if we wait any longer the world might...” They trailed off as Sans replied, “kiddo, we have more than two weeks, we don’t have to rush into it now.” Alphys interjected, “They do have a point, we can’t keep procrastinating forever. If everything had that mindset nothing would ever get done, and that’s not the attitude we should have when the world is on the line. Still though, I really wish it wasn’t this windy.” As she said this, Sans remarked, “you know as long as we stay near these rocks i think we should be fine.” The scientist chuckled, “Yeah, I guess we’re like barnacles on a beach,” before turning a strange device on. 

 

“Isn't that the same device you used to find the rift?” asked Flowey as he wrapped himself around the scientist’s arm. She nodded and said, “Y-yeah, it shut off when we got in here, but it doesn’t seem to be damaged.” While swiveling the remote around, she quickly noticed Chara’s signal and said, “I-I don’t get it, it says that they’re above us. Not directly but this says that they’re at least several thousand miles above us, that wouldn’t make sense unless…” As she said this, she looked up and saw several floating islands in the sky. They held together with the same glowing blue strands that made up the ground they were standing on. It was like they were patches of other worlds that were hastily woven together, like a macabre collage of elements. 

 

“I have a theory…” said Alphys as she switched the device’s directive from pinpointing Chara’s location to detecting other universes. Immediately the machine was bombarded by signatures from several other universes. She had to click it off before it was overloaded with all the information. “This world’s a graveyard,” said Alphys, “Every object in this world, no, every particle, is from a completely different universe. It’s like they were all atomized…” The skeleton remarked, “and if we aren’t careful, that’s going to happen to our world as well. heh it explains why we haven’t seen anyone so far, i don’t think anyone could survive that.” 

 

“I don’t know,” remarked Frisk, “The Void King definitely had some people working under him, so it might not be impossible.” As they said this, Flowey remarked, “To be fair, they might just be people that Skollhati threw in here, I doubt Chara was the first…” He scowled as fiercely as a tiger when he was reminded of his sibling’s fate. His reaction was furious enough to even shock Sans, he had seen Flowey angry before, but this felt too personal to be a coincidence. He casually told Flowey, “w-well to be fair, I doubt the entire army is made up of folks that suffered their fate.” The flowers looked to the side as Sans asked him, “still, i didn’t expect that reaction out of you, your anger is usually prettier than that. did you know chara?” The flower lied, “O-of course not, I was made nearly one hundred years after their death. The only person here who met them before was Frisk, and that’s only because their souls fused.” The skeleton leaned in and asked, “so why were you able to link to their soul?”

 

Flowey looked at him with disbelief as he said this. Of course he’d know how Alphys’s machine worked, he used to be her colleague after all. She probably offhandedly told him about the machine over the phone, and even if she didn’t Sans is as observant as a hawk, you can’t hide anything from him. As the flower convulsed in conflict, Frisk said, “Flowey I think you need to tell him the truth.” He scoffed, “What do you want me to tell him that I’m Asriel Dreemur?” Immediately they heard Undyne yell out, “Wait you’re who!” as she braved the winds. Sans only chuckled, “yeah, i already knew kiddo. there’s only one person who linked their souls with Chara besides frisk, and that’s the prince. honestly i would have been surprised if you were anyone else.”

 

“Does this change anything,” asked Flowey as he raised an eyebrow as the skeleton shook his head. “no, all it really does is but things into perspective, said Sans, “I can see why you’re so determined to save them. you two must’ve been really close, huh?” The flower admitted, “We were, but looking back on it wasn’t perfect. You and Papyrus have a far healthier sibling bond than we ever did. Still I can’t let them go through this, even if they weren’t the best person they don’t deserve this.” As Flowey said this, Frisk told him, “If it makes you feel any better, Chara’s improved a lot as a person after their death. Sure they could still be a sourpuss, but they were doing better.” He looked over to Frisk and remarked, “That’s reassuring,” before shrinking into the dirt.

 

Sans looked over to Frisk and asked, “so was this how you were able to convince him to collaborate with you?” The teen awkwardly admitted, “Kinda…I told him that Alphys was planning on reviving Chara and needed help. They forced me into a pretty messed up wager though.” The skeleton put his left hand on his temple as he said, “oh god, what did they make you bet?” as Frisk replied, “my birth certificate.” The lazybones looked directly at Flowey and asked, “were you trying to get people to deadname them, sheesh that’s pretty messed up even for.” Flowey rose up and scoffed, “Oh please, you act like I would have gone through with it. I just needed something to light a fire under their ass.” The teen pouted as Sans remarked that it was still really messed up for him to do. As they bickered amongst each other, Undyne walked over and said, “Hey guys I walked a bit ahead and I don’t think we’re alone.”

 

She dragged the quartet through the wrathful winds as two silhouettes slowly took shape. They were big, as tall as Asgore and significantly more rotund, they were hard to ignore. “Do you think they’re friendly?” said Frisk as they shielded their eyes from the raging storm. “I don’t know,” replied Undyne, “Given their armor I bet they work for the king, so they probably aren’t too friendly.” Frisk clenched their fist as the fish warrior said this, determined to make these beasts pay for capturing their friend. Without warning Sans grabbed them and hid them behind a nearby rock formation. “What the heck was that fo-” exclaimed Frisk before the comedian shushed them. “kiddo, you were going to make a scene. i know you want to fight these guys, but I doubt that will go well. isn't that right Undyne, …Undyne?” He looked out and saw the former head of the royal guard slowly approaching the two figures. Her steps were impeded by the wind, but she didn’t care, she was going to confront these figures whether they liked it or not. “what are you doing?” asked Sans as Undyne replied, “what does it look like punk, I’m making first contact. Besides, if they try to attack me, I know I can beat them.” Sans shook his head as he said, “fair enough, but I’m going with you, I’m a better negotiator and i can teleport you out of there in case things get hairy” Undyne nodded right before she finally approached the figures.

 

Their appearance was quite bizarre; they looked like huge bipedal mice with octopus tentacles coming out of their noses. They reminded Sans of an old pulp monster he’d heard about a few years ago, they were probably made by the same guy who came up with a dragon octopus man. “So, what’s the gameplan?” asked Undyne as Sans said, “simple, we’re just going to talk to them.” He hesitantly spoke out, “hey fellas, crazy weather we’ve been having, I think it almost swept me off my feet.” Undyne smacked the front of her head as that had to be one of the dumbest conversation starters she had ever heard. One beast stuck his head out and roared, “Who goes there?” He looked down and said, “Oh goodness me it’s just one of you. What are you doing so far from the capital? Don’t you know how dangerous it is out here?” The other rodent leaned over and remarked, “Also who's the fishy lady? I haven’t seen her around.” Sans felt as claustrophobic as a sardine in a can as the two guards inched closer and closer to him. Their tentacled beards were so close to him that they nearly touched his skeletal face. Anxiously he admitted, “her name’s undyne and i’m actually new around here, so i didn’t know this place would be dangerous.” 

 

The second guard poked him in the chest and yelled, “That’s bullshit, I’ve seen your face many times before, you should know dang well that-” His partner put his hand on his shoulder as he said, “Zoo, just because he’s a Sans doesn’t mean that he’s a resident of this world.” He looked down sympathetically and said, “I’m so sorry for that, my partner assumed that you were someone we knew. I bet you get that a lot with how generic your face is.” The skeleton raised his eyebrow, as the rodent continued, “Regardless, if you fell down here because of your universe’s destruction, then I’m so sorry for your loss” The Fish Woman craned her head upwards and said, “No, our world is still intact, though your goddess of destruction is trying to break it.” The two rodents looked at her and exclaimed, “That’s unheard of, most people who fall in here are stragglers who avoided being erased with the rest of their universe. The only exceptions are people who were thrown in specifically by the wolf, did you piss her off?” Sans shook his head as he said, “no but a friend of ours did, do you happen to know the name, chara dreemurr?”

 

The first guard paused at the name, “Dreemurr…” he murmured to himself before saying, “Sorry it doesn’t ring a bell.” His companion Zoo raised his hands and yelled, “Ohhh maybe they’re talking about the new prisoner, ya know the one on Nostos Island.” Relieved, Sans exclaimed, “yep that’s them, so anyway could you-” Before he was interrupted by Zoo who said, “Neato, though I don’t know where you got the name Dreemurr from. According to our bosses, their real last name is Roknarag not Dreemurr.” Indignantly Undyne yelled out, “Because that’s their actual last name, I don’t care what your bosses think, they’re a Dreemurr.” The rodents looked at each other before laughing with such force that it could shake the heavens. The first one wiped tears from his eyes and said, “Please Undyne, our King and Queen know what they’re talking about. If they think Chara’s last name is Roknarag then it’s flipping Roknarag.” 

 

As the quartet started arguing semantics with each other, Frisk thought back to the name that Chara scratched out on the coffin. While they didn’t see the full word, they remembered that it started with “Ro.” They leaned over and asked Flowey, “Do you think that was the name written on the coffin?” The flower scoffed, “Probably, it seems like they have a bias for using people’s original names.” Alphys replied, “That’s strange, do you think that they’d use someone’s maiden name rather than their married name?” The flower nodded before adding, “Probably, though there’s another matter at hand.” He looked Frisk directly in the name and said, “Frisk, if they’re using this with Chara, all I want is for you to prepare yourself.” It took Frisk a moment, before the realization hit them like a truck. They exclaimed, “Wait you don’t think they’re actually going to-” as Flowey replied, “Deadname you? Yeah as much as it grosses you out, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do that.” The teen crossed their arms as they said, “I hope you’re wrong about that.” Before Flowey replied, “Oh trust me, I hope I am as well, Unfortunately I have a bad feeling about this.” 

 

The first rodent leaned toward Sans and asked, “Speaking of Chara, we have a question for you.” Zoo rapidly nodded as he said, “Yah, it's a very important question, very very VERY important.” His compatriot nodded before handing Sans a crudely drawn picture of Frisk and said, “Have you seen this person? Our bosses are looking for them.” Sans froze up and started walking backwards, unfortunately the two rodents had their eyes glued on him. “Come on Sansy, just tell us the truth,” said the original rat as he slowly walked closer to Sans. Before he could reply, Undyne said “Nope we haven’t seen them before in our life, honestly they’re probably dead so you don’t have to worry about them.” As she said this, she mouthed for Sans to run before saying, “Besides, why do you bosses even want those kids? Seems pretty strange to me.” 

 

Zoo loudly sighed, “Ya know, they never tell us rank and file soldiers anything, that’s a privilege only reserved for the hire ups like Fuzz.” Undyne’s body slightly tensed up as the rodent said this. While she was sure that she could take these two suckers down in a fight, she wasn’t confident about taking on their bosses. If a literal child was supposedly able to pick up an island, what could a trained professional do? Her train of thought was interrupted as the first guard claimed, “Our bosses said something about latent potential, bah, not like it matters to me. If anything I’m more interested in getting a promotion.” Zoo shook his companion as he cheered, “Yah, that’s the dream Oog, no more badlands for us ohohoho. Once that little kid is in the hand of the King and Queen, we’ll be set for life.”

 

As they said this, Sans walked off the side of the cliff and teleported right next to Frisk. “so i assume you’ve heard the news,” said Sans as the teenager nodded. “Yeah I heard,” said Frisk, “I can’t believe those guys are actually more concerned about their stupid promotion than my life.” They loudly sighed as Sans asked, “are you alright kiddo? look if this is distressing you we can always-” The human shook their head and replied, “No I can deal with it, besides it’s not like it’s the first time that I’ve been hunted by an entire kingdom. It’s weirdly nostalgic.” Alphys looked over to Frisk and sighed, “W-well at least this time we’ve got your back. Besides this time you have Undyne on your side, she should easily be able to defeat these suckers in case they get any ideas.”

 

 “Yeah,” exclaimed Frisk, “All we gotta do is wait for her to clobber them and we’ll be free to g-“ They were cut off as Flowey said, “Can you keep it down, you’ll give away our location if you keep shouting like that.” The human shrugged, “Honestly I doubt they can even hear us over the tempest, so we can be as loud as possible.” As they said this, the two guards looked over to the rock formation that Frisk was hiding behind. Even if their voice was faint, they could pick it up through the raging windstorm. Oog pulled out an old phone and said, “Hey Fuzz, turn off the windstorm please.” As he said this, the wind around the area slowly dissipated, making Frisk’s voice loud and clear. “Get your butterfly net,” said Oog as he delicately approached the rock formation.

 

 As Frisk kept yapping, a large net appeared above the boulder. Sans, Flowey and Alphys quickly noticed it and tried to get Frisk’s attention, but it was no use, the kid couldn’t stop. “What’s gotten into you guys?” said Frisk, “They can’t hear anything we say.” Sans shook their shoulder and said, “frisk, look above you.” Immediately, Frisk stopped talking and noticed the net looming over them like a heron over a fish. The skeleton tried to teleport them out of the way, but Oog pressed a device that sent a sonic shock to Sans’s ear canal, disrupting his equilibrium. “Sans what’s going on,” yelled Frisk, “Why were you not able to-” Before they were cut off as Oog roared, “They can’t save you now!” as he swung the net down at Frisk, only to be tackled by Undyne. “Avenge me,” yelled Oog as Zoo readied his own net. “Yah you got it sir,” said the lesser rodent as he swung it down in Oog’s place. Undyne tried to stop him, but Oog grabbed onto her boot so that she couldn’t reach them in time. To her horror, Zoo swooped his butterfly net down and caught someone within its grasp. Their wriggling body uselessly fought back against the netting as they were brought before the oversized rodent.

 

“Hey Oog, I caught them, I really caught them.” said Zoo as his companion replied, “Incredible work pal, that promotion is right at our fingertips.” Zoo looked down at the bag and remarked, “They’re quite a fighter dontcha know, look at them struggle in that bag. Oh Ho, so pathetic.” Zoo peeked over the boulder and said, “Sorry about this old sport but your little friend is coming with u-” He stopped as he noticed the human staring up at him in shock. The rodent glared at his companion and said, “Wait Zoo, you caught the human didn’t you?” Absent-mindedly, Zoo flipped the net over as a yellow lizard with glasses fell out of it. He slapped his temple as his partner yelled, 'How did you mistake that dinosaur for a human?!’ Zoo replied, “Yaa, well I didn’t know that the human had brown hair, sorry about that ma’am, we’ll put you back with your friends and-” Before he could finish talking, Undyne elbowed him in the gut and yelled, “Get your filthy paws off of my wife.”

 

As Zoo collapsed from the pain before Undyne picked up the boulder and threw it at him. He didn’t have any time to react and was knocked away like a bowling pin. Oog rolled his eyes and said, “I guess I’ll have to do everything myself.” The rodent blew into a large hollowed out bullhorn as the ground started to shake. “What’s going on?” exclaimed Frisk before a large insectoid leg burst out of the ground. Soil and wires were pushed away as a massive, distorted beast ripped itself out of the ground. It resembled an elephant-sized tick with a face that resembled a circuit board, and it wasn’t alone. Several other creatures burst from the ground like zombies, some resembled the tick, others looked like leeches, and some even appeared to be crabs. Their appearances alarmed Frisk, who slowly walked back as the creatures slowly surrounded them. The organism’s forms crackled like a distorted video game graphic as they growled at the young ambassador. “Seize them,” said Zoo before clarifying, “but don’t break them, I doubt the bosses want to use the coffin again.” And so the beasts slowly descended on the quintet, their jaws hungry in anticipation for both the battle and a chance to take a bite out of the hapless human.

 

Without warning, one of the leeches lunged at Frisk before Sans moved them out of the way with his telekinesis. The beast roared as it tried another go at the kid but this time they dodged out of the way themselves. “Look I know you want my blood, but you aren’t getting it,” yelled Frisk as Oog chuckled, “Bold of you to assume this is a parasitic leech, no this one wants flesh not blood” As they dodged another one of the beast’s strikes, Frisk asked, “That just makes it worse, look can you please put it back in the ground, I don’t want to killed by a leech?” Oog shook his head as he said, “ No can do, now that they know you're here, they won’t stop until they’ve found their quarry, speaking of which…”

 

Before Frisk could react, a massive glitched crab grabbed them with their claws. Frisk could feel their ribs being slowly being crushed under the might of this mighty beast. Even their internal organs started to feel the pressure from the crab’s vice-like grip. They looked around for help but saw everyone else enraptured in their own battles against the beasts. Even Flowey was stuck facing off against two of the leeches. So begrudgingly they said, “H-hey Dash, I could really use some help right now,” as the Anomaly replied, “And what the heck am I supposed to do?” Frisk replied, “Well Chara suggested some act commands to me back in the day, m-maybe you can do that. Dash sighed, “Frisk you are not flirting with a giant enemy crab,” as the kid chuckled, “Well hey, I flirted with a moldsmo-ACK!!!”

 

 Anxiously Dash replied, “alright, alright, umm how about you complement it? Sorry, that's the best I got, unless you want to yell for help.” The ambassador shook their head and said, “N-no this is perfect, I can work with this. H-hey crabcake.” The beast stopped crushing them for a second and intently studied the human in its claws. Frisk continued, “Y-you I’ve always been jealous, I’ve heard that crabs are pinnacles of evolution right, and you are definitely proving that correct. So could you please let me go, a lowly creature like me doesn’t deserve such a fate.” Dash yelled, “Frisk I said compliment it, not worship it.” but weirdly the crab seemed to be pleased by their response. They released Frisk from their grip, gave them some gold, and burrowed back underground. 

 

“It worked,” exclaimed Frisk, “It actually worked! Guys you just have to complement, and they’ll stop attacking you.” Flowey yelled as he dodged two leeches, “I don’t think that’s going to work on these guys.” The human thought for a second before saying, “Maybe you could turn off their scent or something, I doubt they can see you.” Zoo laughed as he said, “Ah yes, the creature with five pairs of eyes won’t be able to see you if you stay still. What’s next you’re going to stand still in front of a tyrannosaur, a creature with better vision than a hawk?” Frisk replied, “Oh come on I’m not that stupid,” before asking Dash, “Hey so is T-rex vision actually that good.” Frisk cussed as Dash confirmed that it was.

 

The flower rolled his eyes at the conversation, before narrowly avoiding the jaws of a leech. “Hey Frisk, I think I know how you can actually be useful,” said Flowey as Frisk replied, “Really? What do meeeeeaaan?” As Flowey wrapped a vine around their torso and dangled them in front of the leeches. “Come on pals, do you really want to attack this poor little flower or this big blood-filled human?” said Flowey. The leeches salivated at the thought as Frisk yelled, “What the hell are you doing!?” as the flower replied, “I’m doing what’s necessary.” The oversized annelids lunged towards Frisk, but before they could bite them, Flowey knocked the creatures off the side of the cliff. They fell thousands of meters into the deep dark waters of nothingness below.

 

Frisk gave Flowey a judgmental look as they said, “Did you just kill them?” The flower shook his head and said, “Oh relax, they’re leeches, those little punks can swim.” He said this while intentionally ignoring the beast's horrific cries of anguish before they were swallowed up by the void below. “Okay I didn’t mean to do that,” admittedly Flowey as Frisk gave him a knowing glare. Thankfully, it seemed like the others were quickly mopping the floor with their assailants. Sans, Undyne, and Alphys quickly knocked out a massive tick before Undyne roared, "Come on, is that the best you got!” Oog only chuckled as hundreds of these beasts surrounded the platform on all sides. “You were saying?” laughed Oog as the beasts all lunged at the heroes.

 

The horde was overwhelming, not a single person was able to see through the chaos. For every person, there had to be at least ten beasts trying to take them down. No one could fight the swarm off, no one except Undyne. She battered away tens of enemies and made a small path in the middle of the mob. From the clearing, she saw a massive enemy crab about to crush Sans like a crouton. Before it could land the finishing blow, Undyne whacked the crab away with the swing of her spear. It careened right into Oog and successfully knocked him out, breaking his remote in the process. “Hopefully that was the only one of its kind,” muttered Undyne before yelling, “Hey Sans where are the others?” 

 

He replied, “i wish i knew, god i can’t see anyone through this army of bugs.” The two shoved away several more beasts before the others screamed. “Alphys! Frisk! …Flowey…” they said in unison as Undyne yelled, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you all.” Sans raised an eyebrow as he said, “really and how do you plan on doing that?” She chuckled while saying, “Just watch and learn,” before spawning a massive glowing spear. “Hey punks!” Have you ever played Dynasty Warriors? No, here’s a live reenactment.” yelled Undyne as she flung a whole group of titanic bugs into the air.

 

She swept through several hordes of beasts before she saw Alphys holding back a massive centipede-like beast with a stun gun. Unfortunately, she was running out of ammo fast and the creature didn’t seem to care about the relatively weak bolts of electricity that graced its carapace. “i’ve got this, " said Sans as he quickly teleported the scientist away from the centipede and towards her awesome wife. “Thanks for that Sans,” said Alphys, “I honestly thought I was a goner.” He shrugged while saying, “don’t mention it, say do you know where the others are?” Alphys said, “I think Flowey was…” her eyes widened as she saw Flowey in the assorted pile of enemies that Undyne was beating up. “U-undyne hold off on that for a second,” exclaimed Alphys as Undyne replied, “And why should I do that?” Flowey fell out of the pile and yelled, “Because you could’ve killed me.” Undyne laughed, “Well it’s not like you haven’t experienced that before,” as Flowey growled at her. “Well newsflash, this time it would have been permanent.

 

Sans looked at his hands as he muttered, “okay two down one to go, where the heck are you frisk?” He looked around the chaotic battleground and didn’t see a single hint of the kid, he couldn’t even hear their screams over the cacophony of growling bugs. Even though he didn’t show it, Sans was getting increasingly worried as time went on, he knew that they had to be here but where? The more time that went on, the higher the likelihood that they'd end up dead. But soon got his answer as he saw two leeches huddling together, grabbing something in their jaws. Sans knew that they were targeting Frisk and yelled, “they’re over there Undyne.” The warrior nodded as she made a path for them, and what they saw repulsed them. 

 

 While Frisk was alive, they clearly wouldn’t be for long. They closed their eyes in pain as two leeches were munching on their body like a stick of pocky. Even as they tried to fight back, the leeches continued to engulf their arms into their trunks. In time, their entire body might end inside the gut of one of these beasts. This was a reality that Sans wouldn’t allow to pass. He readied two gaster blasters and shot it at the two beasts, stunning them for enough time for Frisk to wriggle free of their grasp and escape. They ran to Sans to grab his arms as he and their allies teleported to the entrance of the rift. Far from the rodents and far from their glitched out minions. 

 

Frisk felt like their heart was pounding in their neck as they tried to catch their breath. Even though they escaped the maws of those overgrown leeches, the fact that they were so close to death rattled them to their core. This wasn’t made any better by the small tooth marks left of their skin, even if the teeth were relatively blunt it still did some damage. They wiped away the slime on their arms in a desperate attempt to avoid getting infected by the saliva of these disgusting beasts. As they wiped away all of the gunk, Sans asked them, “kiddo are you alright?” Frisk put on a false smile and replied, “I’m okay, don't worry I just have to wipe this crap off.” 

 

The skeleton gave them a look that proved he wasn’t convinced by their response. He was well aware that Frisk tended to sugarcoat things for the sake of others, from claiming that they got a black eye by tripping, to even trying to mask the fear they felt from their original dream involving Skollhati. This was a consistent pattern shown by Frisk and Sans knew that it couldn’t be healthy for them, especially after they decided to place so much responsibility on their shoulders. He had two choices presented to him, allow Frisk to continue to this self-destructive path which would only result in an early death, or make them stay back for the time being so that they can rest. While Frisk would have readily accepted the first possibility, Sans thought he knew better and realized that the second one was the only one that was going to keep them safe. Thus without warning, he turned the teen’s soul blue and sent them back into the portal.

 

As they careened backwards, Frisk yelled, “Sans what are you doing?” as the skeleton replied, “i’m keeping you safe.” The ambassador shook their head and said, “I don’t need you to keep me safe, not like this.” Sans walked towards the teen and sat beside them before sighing, “i’m sorry kiddo, but we really need to stay back for now. i know you want to go with us, but this is the third time in about a week that you’ve nearly lost your life. heck it’s the second time today.“ Frisk huffed, “It was just one bad encounter, besides Undyne was able to clobber them without breaking a sweat, I’ll be fine Sans.” The skeleton retorted, “these were just the grunt, actually no they were less than that, these were the grunts minions. we might have been able to save you this time, but who’s to say that will continue into the future. the void king and queen have an army of people that outrank zoo and ogg, and if we nearly died to them…” He looked conflicted before sighing, “we might not have a shot.”

 

Frisk looked off to the side while clenching their fist in frustration and yelled, “I’m going to help you guys, whether you like it or not.” They dashed forward, but Sans just used his telekinesis to send them back. They tried this multiple times, but the skeleton always sent them back. “I know you hate this but it’s for the best,” said Sans, “besides, it’s not going to be forever, we’ll need all hands-on deck when we confront Pandora. Until that moment though, please stay in this cave we’ll give you updates until we find the island, please stay still..”

 

Without warning Alphys walked out of the portal and said, “If it’s too dangerous for Frisk to go along with you, then it’s double so for me.” She paused before saying, “B-besides someone’s gotta keep them company, especially if they’re going to stay in this dank cave.” Sans nodded before looking at Undyne and asking, “Say, do you with them as well?” She shook her head and replied, “Look as much as I'd love to stay by Alphys’s side, I can't let you run off by yourself. Those guys were just simple foot soldiers, and they still nearly killed you. If you want any chance to succeed then you’re going to need me.” The comedian grimaced as he thought back to the extremely narrow escape he had against that crab. If Undyne had appeared any later he would have been smashed into a fine powder” Sans quietly said “you have a point,” as he walked back into the portal. He instantly walked out with Flowey in his hands and threw him on the ground.

 

“What the hell did I do?” yelled the flower as Sans replied, “simple, you planned on turning me into a monster meat shield, not risking that.” Flowey loudly scoffed, “Oh come on you smiley trashbag, that was a joke, A JOKE.” Sans rolled his eyes before asking Alphys, “say do you want me to teleport you back to the lab?” She shook her head, and said, “No worries, I came prepared.” Before opening up an upgraded dimensional box and pulling out snacks, some inventions, and even an easy to draw bed. “When did you have time to pack this?" exclaimed Frisk as Alphys replied, “I-i packed most of this stuff when I was on the phone with Undyne, gotta stay prepared after all.” 

 

“Come on guys, I’m literally an asset,” yelled Flowey as Sans dismissively said,“welp everything’s in order, see you guys tomorrow.” The flower tried to reach out to Sans, but he teleported away with Undyne before he could reach them. “Come on!” yelled Flowey as Frisk replied, “You know if you really wanted to you could run in there right now.” He glared at Frisk and replied, “I’m not running in there alone, you’d have to be a real idiot to even consider that. He grumbled as he wriggled away from the teenager and the scientist. “He was definitely planning on using Undyne as a shield, wasn’t he” said Frisk as Alphys replied, “Most likely.”

 

The rest of the day was certainly interesting for Frisk and not always for the best reasons. Alphys and Flowey were certainly odd roomies, with Alphys tinkering on a drone that she claimed could communicate between worlds while Flowey still whined about being left behind. They could definitely understand his frustration, but it certainly got annoying after a while. Frisk eventually had to explain to Toriel and Papyrus that they wouldn’t be home tonight, but they promised them that they’d be home by tomorrow. The two of them seemed hesitant about this arrangement but were okay with it for at least one night; that rift had to be patched up after all. They called several of their other friends throughout the night, from Asgore, to Mettaton, heck they even called a few people from their school. All of this was to curb their ever-increasing boredom, with only two heavily focused individuals to talk to and a continuously draining battery life on their phone, Frisk didn’t have too many ways to distract themselves. 

 

They asked Alphys if they had found a way to communicate between the Void and the regular world. When she confirmed that she had, they eagerly called Sans and Undyne and asked them about their progress. “heya Frisk,” said Sans, “i know you’re excited but could you keep it down? We met some pretty dangerous opponents earlier and I don’t want to get their attention.” As he said this Undyne laughed before saying, “As if, most of those foes were basic grunts, no sweat. Though that Fuzz person was a real challenge, it took both me and Sans working together to finally take them down.” Sans replied, “yeah, that mad hare officer was a nightmare to deal with, thankfully we both got to nostos island in record time.” Undyne blurted out, “Yeah I knew throwing you around like a football and chaining it with your shortcuts actually worked.” The skeleton rubbed his forehead before saying, “don’t remind me.”

 

He continued, “either way, we’re right outside of the island right now. there’s a massive unbreakable barrier protecting it but with enough time we might find a way around it. at the very least, we won’t have to go through that entire gauntlet again, see you soon frisk.” With their path set, he tried to teleport back to the crew in the cave, but something was amiss. “Hey Sans, what’s the hold up, we need to get back to them,” said Undyne as Sans replied, “I’m trying to but no matter what I do the shortcuts keep failing on me.” As he said this, Undyne noticed that his soul had turned a different color. She then looked up and saw a small, long-haired figure hovering above them. “Who the heck is-” exclaimed Undyne before the figure rushed right towards her and the connection was cut off. 

 

“Undyne, Sans!” cried out Alphys as she grabbed the phone from Frisk. They tried calling them back several times, but no matter what they did the result was all the same. “No nononono,” muttered the scientist while slumping down, “This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.” Cautiously Frisk approached her and asked, “A-Alphys?” as the scientist replied, “They’re gone, they’re both gone.” She clenched her ring as she started to hyperventilate. Frisk nervously replied, “I-I refuse to believe that.” Alphys looked over to Frisk and said, “Undyne clearly saw something before the call was interrupted, if something got her-“ before Frisk interjected, “That doesn’t mean she’s dead, maybe the signals jammed.” 

 

Alphys shook her head and said, “No, that the signal is designed to carry over even past dimensional barriers. The only reason it’d cut out is if the phone was damaged or someone shut it off manually.” She looked down and said, “I just, ugh I can’t help but worry about them, especially Undyne. A-at best they’ve been captured and at worst…” Alphys started to freeze up as she considered the more tragic possibilities. Frisk admitted, “I-i know, it doesn’t look good by any means. Still we need to stay strong, we need to stay optimistic, that’s what the others want right?” 

 

Alphys reluctantly nodded and wearily went back to her work, hoping to distract herself from the darker possibilities. Frisk curiously looked over her shoulders and saw the scientist put the final additions on the drone, they wondered if they could use it for something special. Without thinking, they awkwardly blurted out, “You know I could take the drone and-” Alphys dropped a nail on the ground and said, “P-please tell me you’re not thinking of going back there.” They looked to the side, “I…” before Alphys said, “I can tell what you’re thinking, but it’s not going to work. If Pandora or whoever attacked Sans and Undyne is as strong as we think they are then we’re going to need help, lots and lots of help.” She concluded her work on the drone and said, “You can’t run in there alone, you’re just going to get yourself killed.”

 

Frisk thought about this for a second before begrudgingly saying, “I…guess you have a point. I think we should let everyone know about this tomorrow.” Alphys asked, “Wait, why tomorrow?” as Frisk stated, “Because everyone would be asleep right now?” Their response was incredibly deadpan, as if this should be common knowledge to Alphys. “I mean, I bet Asgore and Papyrus are awake right now,” said Alphys, “I bet they’d reply if you called them.” Frisk admitted, “I know, but it wouldn’t feel right to only tell those two, especially with how fussy Ms.Toriel can be.” Alphys sweated bullets as she replied, “I-I’m well aware, still I doubt the two of them would keep the secret for long.” Frisk replied, “I know but it doesn’t feel right to only tell two of them, let’s just wait one night and then we can tell them.” Despite Frisk’s desperate attempts to hide it, their response was far too suspicious to be a coincidence. Alphys could tell that they were planning something, something that could be extremely dangerous. Against her better judgment, she brushed off her gut feeling and said, “I-in that case, please get some rest, we’re going to need it if we're going to save the others.” Frisk nodded before pulling the covers over their body. “Goodnight Alphys,” said Frisk as they pretended to fall asleep, but there was no response. 

 

It took hours for Alphys to fully fall asleep; the nightmares she had about her wife’s fate and Frisk’s potential plan kept her up all throughout the night. Though after a while her eyes slowly started to close, not noticing that Frisk was slowly walking out of their makeshift bed. They tiptoed around the scientist’s bed, as quiet as a mouse, so they wouldn’t wake her. Frisk looked down at Alphys with sorrow in their eyes. “I’m going to get them back,” whispered Frisk, “I promise.” With this thought in mind, they wrote a small paper note on a clipboard and placed it on top of the scientist’s dimensional box. Even if they were doing this behind Alphys’s back, they still thought that she should know the truth. Frisk then went ahead to take several supplies items from the box including the drone and placed them into their own dimensional storage. While Frisk wasn’t a fan of stealing from the scientists, they felt that this was for the greater good. They wouldn’t be able to survive in the Void unarmed, especially not with the price on their head. Unbeknownst to Frisk, a small golden figure appeared behind them and quietly observed them. It then asked. “So, what are you doing”

 

Frisk nearly fell over as they jumped away from the noise. “Sorry Dash, I can’t let them get themselves ki-” before they looked down and noticed who they were actually talking to. “Really Flowey,” sighed Frisk, “you almost scared me to death.” The flower laughed as he said, “Oh please Frisk, I’m not going to rush to the inevitable. They glared at him before saying, “I’m planning on going into the portal, do you want to come along?” He put his petal on his chin and said, “Hmm, yeah let’s do this, so who are we bringing?” Frisk pulled out the drone and said, “Just you, me, and this drone. The flower’s face went from excitement to apprehension in the blink of an eye. All that enthusiasm that Frisk had installed in him disappeared instantly. “Okay, so do you want some helpful criticism,” said Flowey as Frisk nervously replied, “sure…” He sighed before saying, “Your plan is going to get us killed.”

 

Fisk stammered, “Look as much I’d like to bring along Papyrus, or Toriel, or Asgore there isn’t the time. Besides with how much the Underground is caving down, is it even okay to bring them down here?” Flowey rolled his eyes as he said, “It’s better than nothing.” The human huffed before replying, “If you want to wait here for the others then that’s fine by me, but I'm not going to wait for Sans and Undyne to get executed before getting my sorry arse out of this cave.” They defiantly stormed towards the portal away from Flowey and away from Alphys. Flowey thought over the ambassador’s words before wrapping a vine around their leg. “Fine, I'll go,” muttered Flowey, “Someone’s gotta make sure that you stay alive” The teenager nodded as they thanked Flowey. They then gulped before plunging back into the void.

 

Once the duo reached the Void they quickly realized that security had massively increased since yesterday. The land was crawling with guards diligently looking for the teen. “Shoot, I didn’t expect them to bump up security this much.” whispered Frisk. The flower grumbled, “Well if you weren't such a blabbermouth, they wouldn’t have done this.” Frisk exclaimed, “Look I didn't think they'd hear me over the wind, which thankfully doesn't seem to be as much of a problem today.” Flowey nodded as he noticed how much less windy it was. He could actually move around without the fear of being blown away. Flowey looked over to Frisk and said, “It’s probably because they have an actual force stationed here now, so…do you have a plan?” Frisk smirked while saying, “Just watch me,” before they walked around the guards.

 

Frisk did a surprisingly decent job evading the soldiers. They hid behind rocks, equipment, and even hid directly behind their backs. It was almost like they were playing the stealth section of a video game, sure they were easily able to outwit these guards, but one wrong move could be their last, it was simply exhilarating. Admittedly, the only reason why they were actually succeeding was because of how tired the guards were. Frisk saw them fall asleep on the job multiple times and were more interested in chatting it up with their friends than finding them. Even when they were tracking them down, it was clear that they were just going through the motions. It seemed like all of their enthusiasm for life had been sucked out and replaced with apathy.

 

With how zoned out these guards seemed to be, it’s no wonder why Frisk became cocky around them. Unfortunately that overconfidence got the better of them and they accidentally set off a motion alarm. With the element of surprise ruined, Frisk immediately dashed back to the portal. “Are you seriously chickening out?” yelled Flowey, “After everything you said about prostrating?” Frisk replied, “I’m not chickening out, I just…need to make a diversion, Alphys should have something more in her box of dimensional storage.” Flowey rolled his eyes and said, “You cannot be serious,” as Frisk continued to drag him back to the portal.

 

Unfortunately, a massive leech emerged from the ground and blocked the entrance of the portal. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” groaned Frisk as they ran back into the other direction, only to be placed in the crossfire of the guards and anomalies. Thankfully since most of these anomalies were exhausted, Frisk was able to dodge them far more easily. No matter how many soldiers tried to restrain them, Frisk dodged them like they were moving in slow motion. Unexpectedly as they were starting to get the hang of this, Oog rushed out from the crowd and pinned them to the ground. “A valiant effort but a foolish one all the same,” said Oog before he noticed that Frisk had pressed a button on their phone. It quickly turned into a state-of-the-art jetpack and before he could react, Frisk had already broken out and reached for the sky.

 

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” yelled Flowey as Frisk replied, “Yeah I’m surviving.” They quickly caught sight of Zoo grumbling as he loaded a bazooka with tons of missiles. He put his thermal detector on Frisk and yelled, “Ya you back for round two?” The rodent launched several missiles at Frisk who dodged them with ease. “You’ve gotta try harder than that Rat-thulu,” yelled Frisk as they weaved around Zoo's flurry of missiles. “I can’t believe your group took out Sans and Undyne,” muttered Frisk as they kicked away another missile.

Oog laughed, “You will meet the same fate as them in no time flat,” as Frisk remarked, “Is that a death wish?” Oog shook his head, “No, we’re just going to throw you into the dungeon, maybe we’ll even throw you in the same cell as your friends.” Frisk’s eyes lit up for a moment before they were nearly struck by a missile. Even though they dodged it, they were still uncomfortably close to having a missile blow up in their face. “Be careful,” said Flowey as he emerged out of their bag, “You nearly got blew up.” Before Frisk could reply, Oog boasted, “Either way, this time will be different this time we brought our boss.” Frisk rolled their eyes and said, “really your boss? "What are they both radioactive Cthulhu Rodents?” As they said this a massive bolt of electricity surged directly in front of them. Oog claimed, “Nope they're a lagomorph.” 

 

A massive collection of storm clouds surrounded a dark silhouette, eventually forming into a rabbit-like form. They lacked legs and instead had a genie-like tail. The clouds that formed their body resembled a police officer's outfit. Their right eye was covered by a lopsided cloudlike ear and the rest of their fluff swirled around their head like a cyclone. The only visible part of their original form was a thin strip of dark skin in the middle of their face, revealing their piercing red left eye. 

 

“Kick their ass Ms.Fuzz,” yelled Zoo as Oog yelled, “What the hell are you doing?” Zoo had a horrified reaction on his face before he said, “Wait, wait, wait, I didn’t mean it like-” Before he could finish, he was struck by a massive bolt of electricity from the officer. They only coldly looked at their charred subordinate for a moment before looking back at Frisk. “So you’re the second human I've heard about,” said Fuzz in a monotone voice, “Franklin Páasat I assume.”

 

Frisk glared at the rabbit and said, “My name is Frisk, not Franklin.” Fuzz scoffed as they said, “really now, that's not what my documents said.” The human crossed their arms and said, “Well then your documents are wrong, I haven’t used that name since I was five.” The officer tilted their head before remarking, “Wait…since you were five?” They pulled out an enormous scroll and furiously searched for the name “Frisk. It took them a few minutes, but at last they finally found the human’s name. “Ah here it is, echem according to the text, for some strange reason Franklin delu-” Fuzz paused before the realization hit them like a freight train. Their face scrunched up with anger as they crumbled up the scroll into a crude ball and threw it into the ocean. Fuzz remarked, “Of course they want me, me, to call you that, they’re probably laughing at us right now.” The rabbit’s face softened as they continued, “Sorry for calling you that, trust me I understand the feeling.” They glared at Zoo before continuing, “The royals lack any form of tact, especially in writing it’s the only medium that they aren’t censored by the wolf.” 

 

Clouds started to go around the void as Fuzz said, “But even still, you’re coming with me. It doesn’t matter if we have minor similarities, you’re too important to be roaming free.” They thrust their baton forward commanding a massive collection of electrified clouds to move towards Frisk. The human panicked and barely avoided the first cloud, only to be struck in the back by the second. They barely got their bearings as Fuzz rushed towards them.

 

“Screw this,” said Frisk, as they pulled out the fight button. “What are you doing,” said Dash, “We're on a pacifist run.” “A what ru-” said the teen before they quickly dodged Fuzz's first blow. “I'm not going to kill them,” said Frisk, just weaken them. They put all of their anger and frustration into the hit, but Fuzz easily tanked it. They laughed in their face as they said, “Was that supposed to hurt?” The officer commanded a flurry of clouds to form into a massive fist. “This is how you throw a punch,” said Fuzz as they socked Frisk into a nearby rock formation. Frisk tried to get up, but Fuzz turned the gale storm from yesterday back on. They laughed as the kid was tossed left and right by the raging storm. It did matter what they did, they couldn't fight back against the storm. Meanwhile Fuzz was able to move effortlessly in it, commanding the wind patterns like a conductor as they pummeled the teen from every angle. It only ended when the officer punched right through their jetpack and grabbed them from the shirt.

 

“Enough with your charade,” yelled Fuzz, “You are going to be delivered to the King and Queen, and you are going to like it.” Frisk spat out, “Why the hell do you even want to capture me?” The rabbit officer shook them and said, “Why, WHY look around you. This world is a wasteland; our only relief is our floating refugiums. The only time our world is built up is when Skollhati destroys another world and yet we're only left with the scraps.” They leaned in closer and claimed, “Though there’s one way to fix this, you. There’s a power deep inside your soul, a power that can cleave through entire universes. Join us and we can turn this world into a paradise; we will make heaven from hell.” Immediately Frisk stammered, “Y-your lying, I don’t have that sort of power, nor would I want it.” Fuzz laughed, “Of course you don’t have it, you wasted your life helping these freaks, if you struck them down then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

 

As Fuzz said this Frisk looked below and noticed that they were several hundred feet above a massive refugium. It looked like a massive glowing jungle with a huge dormant volcano peeking out of the foliage. It might have been quite the drop, but If they could fall in there, then they might be able to shake off their pursuers. “So if I help you, you’ll fix your world?” asked Frisk as Fuzz replied, “Of course, of course, sure we’ll probably have to damage a couple of others but in the end it will all be worth it.” A disheveled Flowey said, “Frisk, what are you doing?” before Frisk mouthed, “Trust me.” They asked Fuzz, “So, what do you mean by that?” as the rabbit replied, “Well it’s no secret that this world is built on the backs of others. If we are to fix this rotten land, we’ll need resources from other universes. That could destabilize them, but it’s a sacrifice that we’re willing to make. Besides there are so many variations on one universe, who would miss them?”

 

Frisk thought that Fuzz’s plan seemed utterly insane, was this seriously the plan of the Void King and Void Queen. It sounded like imperialism taken to a completely ludicrous extreme. Though even still, they needed to stick to the plan, they needed to play along. They looked over to Flowey and mouthed, “Strike the baton on my command.” The flower nodded as Frisk smiled before saying, “Alright I give up, your plan is very smart and definitely a good thing.” The officer glared at them and asked, “Is that sarcasm?” before Frisk shook their head. “Nononono, ripping apart universes to build up your dinky little kingdom is a great idea,” said Frisk, “If you want to have an evil empire that is.” 

 

The rabbit huffed, “Well, despite your blatant attempts to belittle our plans, I will mercifully take it as an act of surrender. Now, I’ll just call the King and Queen and-” As Frisk yelled, “Now,” as Flowey appeared from their bag and sent a hail of pellets at Fuzz’s baton. “Noooooo,” screamed Fuzz as they reached out for the weapon, but before they could grab it back, Frisk bit down on their fingers. The officer furiously shook them off, and grabbed their baton, only to realize that the teen was already gone.

 

Fuzz screamed profanities into the air for all to hear. Their anger over being outwitted to such a stupid trick burned a hole through their very pride. They then zipped right in front of Oog and Zoo and yelled, “Of all the flipping places they had to fall into, why, WHY THIS ONE?!” Oog worriedly asked, “ermmm, Fuzz, what Refugium did they fall into?” They directly pointed to the glowing forested island with a scowl on their face. Their two subordinates audibly gasped as they saw the island as they had both heard the horror stories about the poor souls that fell in. It’s a land filled with beasts from a bygone age, eagerly wishing both flesh and freedom. Almost no one has ever gotten out of that jungle alive and told the tale. Zoo nervously exclaimed, “T-The Jungle of Terror, y-yah really want us to go in there?” Fuzz crossed their arms and huffed, “I wish but I don’t have any authority down there. Besides you two would also have to deal with my…coworker...” The rodents recoiled in horror as Fuzz mentioned that person. While his name was left unsaid, his ghastly reputation preceded him like a phantom. 

 

“W-what if he catches them?” asked Oog, “With the power of a human sou-” Fuzz rolled their eyes and replied, “Then we’ll deal with him together, even with all that power he’d still be nothing compared to the wolf. In the meantime I have a phone call to make.” They pulled out an old phone from the mid-2010s and looked down at the island for the last time, before saying “I’ll make this brief. Frisk because of your foolish actions here today, you’ve not only sealed your own fate, but your universe’s as well. I hope you can live with that.” They then turned away from the refugium and went back to their subordinates and prepared to be grilled by their unpleasable bosses.

 

Meanwhile Frisk and Flowey crashed further and further into the mysterious forest below, Unbeknownst to the two of them, they jumped from the frying pan into the fire. For they were about to enter the lion's den, and they were on the menu!

Chapter 9: Lion's Den

Beep! Beep! Beep! Went the alarm as Alphys slowly opened her eyes. She saw the water from the surface, drizzling into the cavern like a small rainstorm. It was truly fortunate that she set her bed and equipment away from the water, lest they be soaked by the falling droplets. “How long have I been asleep?” murmured Alphys as she crawled out of bed. Last night was certainly a rough one for the former royal scientist, she had nearly been attacked by a distorted centipede-like creature, and now her former lab partner and wife were now missing. She had barely gotten a single wink in last night as the thoughts of Undyne’s fate swirled in her head. Eventually her own exhaustion took over, but that was to be expected, she just hoped that she had gotten enough sleep for the day. As she got up, Alphys looked over to the side of her bed in dismay, it felt so much colder and empty without Undyne’s presence. Her eyes wavered as she turned on an audio recorder and said, “O-okay, Day Two...”

 

“Food is starting to get low, and two of our allies have gone missing…including my wife. Though I know that I shouldn’t worry about this, that isn’t what Undyne wou-no, this isn’t what Undyne wants. With any luck they’ll be back any moment, isn’t that right Frisk, Frisk..?” She stopped her recording as soon as she realized that they weren’t there. In a panic she looked under their own makeshift bed, around every corner, every pool of rainwater, even within fallen bags of garbage, but they were nowhere to be found. It was like The Ambassador for Monsterkind had run off in the middle of the night, but they wouldn’t do that right? After all, they were clearly the most shaken up about the anomaly attack and even tried to comfort her after Undyne’s disappearance. 

 

There’s no way that they’d run off all by themselves right? She thought this before seeing a small note on the table. It was in the exact location that her state of the art cross-dimensional drone a day ago, and it wasn’t the only device that was missing. Many of her smaller inventions and food had gone missing, as if someone was stocking up on supplies and needed everything in order to survive... She slowly opened up the note and her worst fears were fully realized.

 

“Sorry for running off but someone has to save the others. I hope that this drone will keep us in touch for now, 

-from Frisk.” 

 

She punched into the transmitter and opened up her laptop and yelled, “Frisk, FRISK come back, you can’t do this alone…p-please,” But all she got was a missing signal. After the realization that another person had gone missing in this blasted cavern she picked up her phone and dialed Papyrus’s number. Immediately, the skeleton replied, “OH DR.ALPHYS, HAS THE RIFT FINALLY BEEN REPAIRED?” as Alphys replied, “No, no we really underestimated how dangerous this place is. I might be alright, but the others… The others are missing.” Her breath hastened as she continued, “We’re going to need all hands-on deck, this isn’t something one person can handle.” Apprehensively Papyrus said, “WHO DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL?” Alphys’s breath hitched as she said, “Anyone, bring over anyone who can help.” Her voice wavered as Papyrus said, “I WILL DO WHAT I CAN…” before shutting off his phone. As the skeleton did this, Alphys spared the ominous portal one last glance. With any hope her friends and partner would still be alive, but that hope was quickly diminishing...

 

Unfortunately, things weren’t much better on Frisk’s end. They had fallen hundreds of feet into a dark and mysterious forest. The teen was bombarded by sticks, twigs, and branches as they fell down, one particularly large one even smacked them across the head. And right when they thought it was over, they face planted onto the damp mud below.

 

It only took a moment for the pain to set in. The mud bubbled as Frisk yelled in both frustration and pain, sure they had avoided capture, but this was hardly any better. They had no idea where they were, nor any idea how to get out. Before the mud could claim them, they yanked themselves out of it, coughing up any mud that had somehow entered their lungs. “I thought I'd never have to deal with that again…” moaned Frisk as they wiped away the mud from their face.

 

Even though their vision was still blurry, they still noticed that their once pristine courtroom clothes were now drenched in muck. Great, that was yet another thing that they would have to deal with. Regrettably the more they looked around, the worse the pain in their head got. It felt like someone was hitting their head with a jackhammer whenever they moved it slightly. To make matters worse, it felt like everything in the world was spinning. It felt like they were trapped in a vr roller coaster that blasted strobe lights from all angles. It was enough to make them nauseous. As they clutched their head and stomach, Frisk said, “H…hopefully this is nothing,” before waddling over to Flowey. “Are you alright?” asked Frisk.

 

“Yeah I’m doing fine, no thanks to your harebrai-” said Flowey before looking up to Frisk, “Oh my god your head is bleeding.” Frisk replied, “I…m okay… I’ve walked off way, way worse,” before holding back some vomit. Nervously Flowey asked, “Frisk how many vines am I holding up,” as he pulled three vines from the ground. “I dunno…five…they’re really blurry,” said Frisk as Flowey stated, “Oh god you have a concussion.” Weakly, Frisk said, “I sure hope I don’t” before holding back another deluge of vomit. “Hey if you’re going to throw up, don’t puke on me,” said Flowey, “There’s some bushes behind you, go over there.” The human gave him a weak thumbs up as they swayed over to the groves behind them.

 

As Frisk expelled the contents of their stomach, Flowey looked on in disgust. He knew that he couldn’t let them continue like this, they’d just slow him down. They were more likely to faceplant in front of Pandora and the Void Tyrants than actually stop them, but how would he even fix this? He was no medical professional, and they definitely needed that type of help. Healing magic could help them, but he doubted it would fix all of their problems, but it was better than nothing… 

 

With his idea in place, he beckoned Frisk forward. Even though they couldn’t see all that well right now, Frisk swore that they saw some green pellets start to surround them. The ambassador shrunk away as Flowey remarked, “what the heck are you doing? I'm trying to help you.“ He sighed, “you still have trust issues don't you?” 

 

They nodded as Flowey cruelly smiled before saying, “of course you do, you just have to make everything harder for me. Unfortunately there’s one tinsey tiny little issue you forgot about.” Confused, Frisk asked, “And…. what’s that?” as the flower replied, “simple, I don’t care.” In an instant, friendliness pellets rained down on Frisk like a hail of gunfire. Though rather than being hurt, they noticed that their migraine, nausea, and blurred vision started to fade away. It was as if the symptoms of their concussion were washed away by the rain of friendliness pellets. “Why do you look so surprised?” asked Flowey, “Did you actually think I was going to kill you? Newsflash Frisk, you’re the only person I know that can get us out here. Besides you and Chara have a bit of a bond now, so it would be pointlessly cruel to cut that.” Frisk raised an eyebrow as Flowey stated, “Look, all I’m trying to say is that you can trust me now.” While wiping away some blood from their forehead, Frisk said, “t-thanks, I appreciate it.” 

 

As their vision slowly returned, Frisk finally got a good look at the forest. The area around them was as dark as a moonless night. It was only illuminated by the cyan neon foliage and red striped bark. Despite how odd this area looked, some of the plants here felt oddly familiar, as if they had seen them in a book before. As they started walking towards one of the trees, their train of thought was shut down as Flowey snapped his vine like a finger. 

 

“Yohoo, earth to Frisk,” said Flowey as the human covered their ears. “We can look at the laser tag trees later, do you know how to get out of here?” Frisk shrugged and said, “Well I have a jetpack, maybe we can use that.” They Immediately turned their phone into its jetpack mode only to realize that it had a massive gash in the fuel container, it was the exact place where Fuzz punched it. “You do have a jetpack, right Frisk?” impatiently asked Flowey as Frisk replied, “Well, we do have a jetpack, just not a working one.” 

 

The flower threw out his vines and yelled, “Great, that’s just perfect. I’m stuck in a bumfunk forest with a human who can’t even get us out of here.”  Frisk yelled, “Hey if it wasn’t for Fuzz we wouldn’t be stuck in this situation.” The flower roared, “If you had just waited for the others, they wouldn’t have caught you in the first place!” Frisk replied, “Well I’d rather be here than be captured by a deadnaming soldier.” Flowey screamed into his vines and said, “We could’ve brought Toriel, or Asgore, or heck maybe even Papyrus, I don’t get why you wanted to run off by yourself.” Frisk stood as still as a statue before admitting, “I just… I didn’t want them to get hurt.” As he looked them straight in the eye, Flowey said, “Well because of your recklessness, now everyone is going to get hurt, how does that make you feel?” 

 

Solemnly Frisk began to walk away as Flowey yelled, “Wait where the hell are you going?” as they replied, “I’m going to try to make myself useful.” Their response was as chilly as an arctic night, even Flowey could sense that something was wrong. “Wait, make yourself…” said Flowey, “Oh no. Frisk, wait, no, let’s talk about this.” Despite his pleading, Frisk simply ignored him, before Flowey yelled, “Don’t make the same mistake Chara did.” Frisk froze up, before dashing away from him, into the forest and out of sight. He shot his vines out in an attempt to catch them, but they just ducked under them and kept running. “Me and my big mouth,” grumbled Flowey as he wriggled after them, hoping to prevent them from doing something they’d regret.

 

Meanwhile Frisk found a lonely old tree and curled up into a ball and cried, both out of anger and over feeling powerless. If they couldn’t help their friends, then what else could they do? Flowey was right, they messed everything up.  They decided to run off into the portal, they thought they could save Sans, Undyne, and Chara all by themselves, but now they knew that they couldn’t. And because of their rash actions, everyone was going to pay for their hubris. Their quivering hands pulled out the worn dagger before Dash asked, “I-is this a bad time?” Frisk tearfully nodded and said, “If you're going to tell me that I messed up, I know, I really know.” Dash replied, “This feels like a bit of an overreaction, is your head really back to normal?” The forest shook as Frisk yelled, “I’m not overreacting! Everyone is screwed, and I don’t even think I can get out of here alive, but maybe he can…” They put the dagger to their throat right before Dash stopped them.

 

“What are you doing?” asked Frisk as Dash replied, “Look I know what you’re going through, but that isn’t going to solve anything. I might not be able to see it right now, but your life is too precious to be thrown away like this.” The teenager muttered, “I-It’s not like I haven’t died before,” as Dash retorted, “But this time it’s going to be permanent. Besides, do you really want Flowey to have control over your soul?” Nervously the teen replied, “No, but a human-monster fusion would have a better chance of getting out of here,” before Dash said, “Don’t think like that, there’s always a better way, trust me I know.” 

 

“What do you mean by that?” asked Frisk as they looked down at the knife. Dash replied, “When I was your age, I thought that any big mistake would screw over my life. An abysmal test here, my family yelling at me there, there were many points where I thought that my life was over. Though in spite of that I still decided to live, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.” Frisk shook as they slowly put the knife in the bag. Before they knew it, a familiar vine wrapped around them as Flowey said, “Sorry for yelling at you, if I knew you were going to attempt this then-” As Frisk interjected, “Don’t mention it, honestly I deserved some of that.” Flowey replied, “Just don’t try to give yourself up for me, I’ve already dealt with that once, I don’t want to deal with that again.” Even if his reasons seemed to be selfish, Frisk still smiled and thanked him. “I’m just glad that Dash was able to talk you out of it,” admitted the former prince, “I guess they’re useful for something.” The teen nodded before finally calming themselves down, “I guess they are.”

 

As they settled down Frisk looked to the ground and saw pine needles. They rolled them around with their fingers, as they tried to clear their mind of distressing thoughts. Though the more they looked at, the more they were reminded by their original train of thought. Frisk got up and looked at several other plants around them, calmly observing their leaves, something about them felt archaic. Flowey asked, “Are you looking at plants again?” as Frisk replied, “Well I’ve gotta get my mind away from those negative thoughts somehow. Besides, I've noticed something really weird about these trees, do you want to know what it is?” 

 

The flower snarked, “What did you just notice that they were glowing?” as Frisk exclaimed, “No not that, just look at the leaves, these aren’t flowering plants. These are ferns, conifers, heck I even see some gingkos in here.” Flowey stammered, “Gingkos? Sorry Frisk, that's all Greek to me, As Frisk replied, “It’s actually Japanese, not Greek, I think it means silver apricot.” As they mused Flowey exclaimed, “Wow, when did you learn so much about plants?” as Frisk replied, “Well when you have a botany nerd stuck in your head for two years, you tend to pick up some stuff.” They laughed, “Chara has made me read so many textbooks because they saw some random plant in a tv show, it was tiring but I couldn’t deny their passion.” 

 

Flowey looked up to the sky and reminisced, even when he was younger Chara still had that same passion for plant biology. If they had the chance to grow up, maybe they would have even considered a career in it. Or maybe they would have gone into the coding, they were just as obsessed with numbers after all. Maybe that’s why that “Deltarune” version of themselves looked like such a nerd, perhaps it’s their destiny. As the nostalgic memories faded, Flowey asked, “So, what’s so important about these plants?” as Frisk replied, “Because they were all prominent during the Mesozoic, the Age of Dinosaurs” 

 

“Actually the Mesozoic wasn’t just the age of dinosaurs” said Dash, “After all the Triassic was mainly ruled by other archosaurs, such as Raisuchids and… hey are you paying attention?” Frisk giggled to Flowey, “I think I just activated Dash’s nerd mode,” as Dash replied, “I heard that,” before continuing to talk about the Mesozoic. Frisk rolled their eyes as they walked down the trail, The Age of Dinosaurs sounded so much cooler to them. Though as they continued to walk down the trail, they noticed a strange rope from one of the gingko trees. “Hey Dash, have you noticed this rope?” asked Frisk as the entity replied, “Frisk I was in the middle of-ugh no I didn’t.” The teenager asked, “Do you think I should pull it?” As Dash replied, “Absolutely not, Frisk you shouldn't pull random st-” before the teen began climbing the tree. “Why did I even ask?” bemoaned Dash as Frisk pulled down on the rope, before a massive scroll fell out of the tree. Unfortunately for Frisk, it fell directly onto them and covered them like a tarp. 

 

“You look ridiculous,” said Flowey, “Are you going to wear that as a blanket?” Frisk flipped him off before turning the paper to the other side. Their eyes widened as they saw text written on the other side, extremely scratchy text, but it was still legible. “Hey Flowey, I think it says something” exclaimed Frisk as the Flower shuffled on over.  “Alright, what’s written on it?” asked the flower as Frisk cleared their throat and said, 

 

“Welcome to The Jungle of Terror. If you’re reading this, then CONGRATULATIONS, you're trapped, but don't worry it won’t be for long. Now if you want to get out of here, just stand completely still in the middle of the road, no one will notice you. Well except for Tyrannosaurus, but the only one here is terrified of me so he shouldn’t be a problem. He might annoy you by bragging about his eyesight, but that’s typical of all dinosaurs. We get it, that old movie was extremely inaccurate but you’re a flipping T.O.P. at the very least you can all act it. Anyway, if you’re on the exceptions list, then I will gladly escort you out of here myself. And if you’re not on the list, well… I still win. Good luck out there travelers, you’ll certainly neeeeeed it….”

 

“Signed ~Ropen Copebana”

 

“This looks like a trap,” muttered Flowey as Frisk replied, “I know right, at least we now know what we’re up against.” The flower said, “I guess you were right about the dinosaur stuff, with any luck we won’t end up inside one of them.” Frisk shivered as Flowey said this, they already had a close enough encounter with those leeches yesterday, they didn’t want to repeat that with a tyrannosaurus. They doubted that they would be able to survive a pocky game with those monsters. “If they’re telling us to stay on the trail, let’s do the opposite,” murmured Frisk, as Flowey said, “I dunno, it still feels like it could be dangerous.” The human shook their head and replied, “Well it’s better than standing out in the open.” The flower begrudgingly agreed as he climbed up the teen’s arm. “What do you think he meant by a T.O.P.?” asked Flowey as Frisk replied, “I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.”

 

As they walked within the undergrowth, they didn’t see many signs of dinosaurs. They saw some small multicolored mammals, a couple of lizards, and even some buff froggits, but no dinosaurs. In fact the residents of this neck of the woods seemed more afraid of Frisk and Flowey than anything else. “I don’t get it, why is everyone so skittish?” said Frisk as Flowey replied, “Well I doubt most of these guys have had many positive experiences with larger creatures.  They're on the menu after all; wouldn’t you be on high alert if you could be snapped up in an instant?” The human nodded before they saw a small creature run out of the undergrowth. It looked really bird-like but it had lizard-like lips and a fluffy striped tail. The creature was covered head to toe in fuzz, like an adorable curious stuffed animal. 

 

It curiously approached Frisk as they exclaimed, “Oh my god I think that’s a dinosaur.” As Flowey tilted his head, “Wait that’s a dinosaur, why is it so fluffy?” Frisk replied, “Oh come on, everyone knows that some dinosaurs had feathers.” They then brought out some trail mix and said, “Come on little guy, I’ve got some food for you.” The flower groaned, “You cannot be serious, you can’t go around feeding prehistoric beasts.” Immediately Frisk scoffed, “For your information I’ve fed Woolly Mammoths before, so this shouldn’t be any different. Besides this is just a little guy and-YOOOWWWW.” screamed Frisk as the little guy bit them right on the finger. As this happened, Flowey laughed his nonexistent butt off, “Serves you right dumbass.” While looking at the bite marks, Frisk said, “H-hey, I thought you weren’t going to mock me.” Flowey replied, “Look I’m not going to buy you into pulling out the knife, but I will laugh at you if you make a fool out of yourself.” Frisk sighed, “You’re the worst,” before four other identical dinosaurs emerged from the thicket.

 

“Do you think they’re chompies?” asked Flowey as Frisk exclaimed, “Don’t even joke about that.” Before they knew it the little dinosaurs swarmed them and began nipping at their small amounts of exposed skin. Even if they weren’t able to pierce it, their little bites were still pretty painful. Thinking on their feet, Frisk ran over to a large boulder and climbed on top of it and breathed a sigh of relief. “There, those little gnats can’t get to me now,” triumphantly said Frisk, “You hear that, looks like someone has the high ground and it’s not you.” However those little dinosaurs started laughing at Frisk before headbutting the boulder. They didn’t realise why until they heard loud snoring coming from the boulder. Their feet slightly shifted as the body rose up and down with every breath. “I think that’s their dad,” muttered Flowey as Frisk said, “Yeah I figured that ouuuuut.” They were immediately thrown off as the boulder rolled over to its side and yawned a mighty yawn. Its jaws were massive, they were large enough to swallow a grown man whole, and It didn’t take Frisk long to figure out what it was. They were just standing on top of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 

Before they could scream, Flowey covered their mouth and said, “be quiet, please…” Frisk nodded as they slowly tiptoed around the beast, hoping not to make a single sound. Their stealthy escape was complicated by the chicks constantly nipping and jumping on the adult. “We’re they trying to get them killed?” thought Frisk as they slowly backed away from the beast. Unfortunately as soon as they were in the clear, a youngster ran up to Frisk and nipped at them once again. As they tried to avoid it, they accidentally stepped directly on a branch. To their horror the resting titan opened its eyes, before yawning once again. 

 

“Kids, I went to bed a few hours ago. What is it?” groggily said the Tyrannosaurus as his kids pointed at Frisk. “Is it just me or did it just talk?” asked Flowey as Frisk started stumbling backwards. He looked them straight in the eyes with a puzzled expression, before saying, “What is that thing?” His kids chirped as he said, “Right… Kids, did you forget that there is a perfectly good carcass right behind you?” He pointed to a half-eaten hadrosaur as the chicks reacted in disgust. “You can never win with them,” muttered the beast, before looking towards Frisk. “Let’s make this quick.”

 

The beast rose up as his kids started to encircle Frisk. “Alright stay still,” muttered the Tyrannosaurus before opening up his jaws. “Okay, time to run,” squeaked Frisk as the tyrannosaur brought his jaws down on them. Thankfully, they were able to dodge in the nick of time. They ran back to cover only to be ambushed by one of the mini rexes. It tried to tear at their face, but Frisk was able to throw it off. It sneered and cried out for its siblings to attack once more. The others responded in kind and began corralling Frisk into another little box as the father opened his jaws yet again. 

 

His jaws rocketed towards Frisk, but thankfully Flowey was able to use his vines to hold it away from them. “Frisk I can’t hold this forever,” exclaimed Flowey as he buckled under the weight of the lizard king, Frisk nodded and leaped away before the beast could grab them. Bizarrely it didn’t clamp down as its head struck the ground, it only bit down as it noticed that its kids were watching them. He chomped on a massive pile of dirt and messily spit it out. As the beast was doing this, Frisk worriedly said, “Hey Dash, do you have any way to get out of here?” The entity replied, “What am I supposed to do? You’re fighting a trex” While dodging one of the bull rex’s footstep, Frisk yelled, “Just CHECK it, if Chara was able to do it then so can you.” Dash said, “Alright, alright, let’s see what we’re working with.”

 

[HANK THE TYRANNOSAURUS]

[ATTACK: 120, DEFENSE 30]

[He might be the tyrant lizard king, but his heart isn’t in it.]

 

[The youngsters]

[ATTACK: 1, DEFENSE: 0.5]

[These rambunctious kids just need some rest.]

 

“Wait, his attack is 120!” exclaimed Frisk as Dash replied, “What were you expecting he’s a Tyrannosaurus! If he bites you once, your organs will turn into jelly.” Frisk yelled, “I already figured that ouuuut.” as they dodged a lazy sideways bite from the Trex. “Can you please stay still,” muttered the beast, “It’s nothing personal but my kids reeeaaaally want you dead. So, unless you can calm them down, you’re going to end up in my mouth.”  He despondently looked down at Frisk before intentionally missing them. As they easily dodged his attack, Frisk thought about what the Trex said, he’s willing to spare them if they can calm down his kids. But how would they do that? They never had siblings, especially not younger siblings, they’re the worst person to calm down these little birds. Though as they dodged another seemingly halfhearted attack, Frisk suddenly got an epiphany.

 

“I’ve got it,” exclaimed Frisk, “We just need to sing them a lullaby.” Flowey stammered, “A lullaby? Frisk this is a flipping trex, he’s not going to spare you over a lullaby,” The teen replied, “Why not, people have spared me for a lot less.” The bull trex raised any eyebrow as Frisk continued, “anyway if you’re not going to be a team player, I get it, must be embarrassing for the former prince to sing. Anyway here goes nothing…” They trembled before singing, “...When the light is getting low, and the shadows start to grow, and the places that you know seem like fantasy.” Dash remarked, “Wait is that the-” before noticing that The trex chicks were starting to close their eyes, “Alright keep going it’s working,” Frisk nodded as they continued, “There’s a light inside your soul, that’s still shining in the cold…” The bull tyrannosaurus lowered his head and closed his eyes as Frisk walked over and placed their hand on his snout. “But don’t forget, I’m with you in the dark…”

 

As they backed away from him, the tyrannosaurus said, “Thank you, thank you so much for that.” He rose up as Frisk went into a battle stance before they were quickly waved off. “Do you know how hard it is to tuck those little ones in?” asked the beast as Frisk shook their head. “Ugh, you’ll understand when you're older,” said the Trex, “Anyway what’s your name kiddo?” Apprehensively the human said, “I’m Frisk…” The beast mused, “You look scared Frisk, is this your first day down here?” Frisk nodded as the Trex sighed, “That must’ve been hard, I’m guessing you and your friend are the only survivors of your world. Though I don’t know why you’d end up here. You’re so small and your clothes are too modern, was there a mix up?” Frisk replied, “Actually I’m trying to save my world, but I fell down here after Fuzz tried to capture me.” The trex laughed, “Well then you’re braver than you look, most folks wouldn’t dare go against Skollhati.” 

 

The teen nodded before apprehensively asking, “So you’re not going to eat me?” The tyrannosaurus laughed. “No worries kid you’re off the hook; besides, I wasn’t going to do it in the first place. I was just going to scoop you up and place you in a tree, my kids would be none the wiser. Besides, you're a friend now and I don’t eat friends.” Frisk exhaled in relief and said, “Thank you so much Mr.Tyrannosaurus,” as he replied, “Oh please, Mr.Tyrannosaurus was my father, call me Hank.” The teen raised an eyebrow and said, “Alright Hank…? Do you know how to get out of here? This place is cool and all, but I really don’t want to stay here long.” 

 

Hank paused before saying, “The only way to escape is by flying and unfortunately the only ones who can do that are the Azhdarchids.” Flowey asked, “What’s an Azhdarchid?” as Hank replied, “Massive pterosaurs, they’re so tall they can look me straight in the eye. Unfortunately, I have a feeling they’re going to be a lot less kind to you. Not only has their leader threatened my kids, but he’s also said some troubling things about one kind of animal. An animal that matches your friend’s description.” Frisk asked, “Well can you change their mind? You’re a tyrant lizard king after all.” The trex shook his head and said, “I’m no king, I’m just a father. Besides, even with a weight advantage I wouldn’t stand a chance against them. They can actually do magic.”

 

 Hank continued, “But thankfully not everything is lost. The boss’s daughter has actually had a face turn and if you need any help call her.” Frisk exclaimed, “Wait, you have a phone?” as Hank chuckled, “Of course I do, who doesn’t these days?” The human replied, “I know but with how small your arms are…” as Hank laughed in their face. “Please if you think my arms are short, then you haven’t seen any abelisaurs, those guys are the real baby arms.” He cleared his throat as he said, “Anyway you should really call her number,she specializes in helping wayward prey like you.” The teen raised an eyebrow, even if Hank was trying to be nice, they really didn’t like being referred to as prey.

 

“Alright I’ll consider it,” said Frisk as they continued on their way. Before they left Hank yelled out, “Good luck on your quest Frisk, just be careful most people here aren’t as passive as me.” Frisk nodded to the tyrannosaur who did his best to wave them off before going back to sleep. “You got out of that surprisingly well,” said Flowey, “you got lucky Frisk.” They replied, “Well… I mean I almost ended up in his mouth,” as Flowey replied, “Oh please, he wasn’t actually going to eat you. He was going to baby you like a mother croc.” Frisk replied, “I still think it would have been gross,” as Flowey said, “Of course, but at least you wouldn’t have died.” They weakly nodded their head as Flowey continued, “Still I think he’s an exception, keep your eyes peeled, there are a lot of folks here that want you dead.” The teen shivered before opening up their phone.

 

“Are you actually going to call her now?” asked Flowey as Frisk replied, “Of course, I need all the help I can get.” The flower rolled his eyes as Frisk punched in the number. “This isn’t going to work.” said Flowey before Frisk loudly hushed him. In spite of this, the flower continued, “I'm telling you Frisk I wouldn’t trust the number given to you by a tyrannosaur.” They replied, “Well Hank didn’t try to eat me so I’d say he’s trustworthy,” Flowey remarked, “Big woop, most people wouldn’t try to do tha-” before he was cut off by a voice at the other end of the line. “Who is this?” 

 

The voice was filled with energy and concern, as if they were an outgoing person that was forced to keep their head down. They also sounded older than Frisk, they carried themselves more like a young adult than a teenager. If Frisk had to guess, they’d assume that they were probably around five to seven years older than them. With nervousness in their voice, Frisk told them their name and why they fell down here. Frisk tried to make it as precise as possible, but that was an extremely challenging task with the panic in their voice. There were many points where the Azhdarchid interrupted Frisk because they said something too quickly, or because they wanted them to elaborate. It was annoying, but Frisk was grateful that the pterosaur seemed interested in their plight. Though as time went on, the Azhdarchid started taking notes on Frisk’s story, something about it felt remarkably familiar to her. She then blurted out, “Wait, are you that little guy that Fuzz was yelling about?”

 

Frisk chucked as they said, “Yeah that was me, I guess biting the hand that chokes you doesn’t lead to the best reputation. How did you know that Fuzz was yelling about me?” The voice replied, “My dad and bro broke into a video call that they were having with the king and queen, and by god I haven’t seen them that angry before. Though honestly they always need to take a chill pill, or a vacation, either one works.” She paused before sputtering out, “Oh, right, introductions. My name’s Ahool Copebana, I’m the youngest member of the Copebana family, by two minutes, and the only one who’s willing to help you.” Frisk exclaimed, “Wait, your last name is Copebana? I saw a poster written by Ropen Copebana, are you related to him?” To which Ahool replied, “Ohhhhh that would be my father. Ugh he’s put those stupid posters all over the jungle. Whatever you do, please don’t run into him, he takes his reputation as a Top Order Predator very, VERY seriously.” Frisk replied, “That’s ominous, at least I know the T.O.P. stands for now. Hey umm, he wouldn’t, you know, consider me part of the menu, right?”

 

“Hopefully not,” said Ahool awkwardly, “Most weeks you’d be in danger, but recently he's been deadset on going after this one specific type of prey. So as long as you aren’t that, then you should be as safe as a clownfish in an anemone.” Frisk stammered, “O-okay, so what type of animal is it anyway?" She replied, “Look I doubt you'll have to worry about it, I bet It’s just stupid cryptic that Pandora made up. I mean come on, six-foot defenseless mammals with souls that can alter reality, seems like a fairytale.” Frisk shuddered as Ahool continued, “You know it also had a really stupid name too, I think she called it a HUE-MAN.”

 

The teenager froze as Ahool said this and could barely hold the phone. “Wahhahow, you were left speechless," said the pterosaur, “I knew the name was dumb, but I didn’t think it was that dumb” She laughed before realizing that Frisk's silence was not out of bewilderment, but fear. “Frisk what's wrong?” asked Ahool as they replied, “Ahool… I'm a human.” She laughed, “Haha, good one Frisk, heh…eh…oh my god you’re not joking.” 

 

“L-look Frisk take back everything I said about you being fine,” said Ahool, “We need to get you out of here now! Whatever you do, stay off the main road, that's where he patrols the most often. Stay in the thicket, there might be more monsters and dinosaurs in there, but he can’t run far in there, it’s too narrow for him.” The human nervously chuckled, “I guess I was right about that poster being a trap, thankfully I took it with me so he can't trick anyone else.” Ahool claimed, “You know he puts GPS trackers on those right?” Frisk saw a small device on the poster and crushed it in their hand and said, “It doesn’t anymore.” The pterosaur laughed, "He's going to be pissed by that, those things are an ego trip for him.” 

 

She continued, “Also be look out for Booby Traps, if anything seems too convenient don't engage with it. Also if you see any white stars-eek.” Frisk yelled, “Ahool what's wrong?” she whispered, “Go to Chaffey Point, I know someone who can help you.” An unknown voice said, “Ahool…who are you talking to…?” Exasperated, Ahool said, “We'll talk later, stay safe Fr-,” before immediately ending the call.

 

As it did so, Frisk crumbled to the ground as their heart began racing, their hands were shaking, and their breath was becoming more labored. “Great, just another threat we have to worry about,” muttered Flowey, “How are you holding up Frisk?” He looked over and saw the teenager hyperventilating underneath a conifer tree. “Okay Frisk, breathe okay, just breathe,” said Flowey, “Can you do that for me?” They nodded their head as they steadied their breathing, turning it from a panicked tempest to a calm breeze. “Thanks Flowey,” said Frisk, “I know she didn’t mean to but I think that Ahool just made everything worse.” The flower waved them off, “Well at least we’re up against, besides she did give you some good hints.” The teenager looked guilty off to the side as Flowey continued, “Plus, now you’ve got some friends here, if Ropen tries to grab you they can always rush to your aid. Besides you’ve faced off against far more dangerous foes than a hungry dinosaur, with any luck you should be out of here in no time.”

 

Frisk chuckled, “Wow, I think that’s the most encouraging thing I’ve ever heard you say. What happened to Flowey, I thought being an unrelenting shitweed was part of your personality,” He admitted that, “Well, I’ve had a little bit of reflection, if my comments can make you consider slitting your throat then maybe I ought to be nicer to you.” Frisk scoffed, “Wow, it took all that for you to realize you were being a jerk,” as Flowey replied, “Hey don’t make this change of heart short lived, I can always go back if you want. The teen sighed, “Right, right, excellent point Flowey…let’s just get a move on.” Frisk then proceeded to walk into the thicket with Flowey wrapped around their arm.

 

It took the duo hours to find Chaffley Point. While Ahool had sent them the coordinates, It was still extremely difficult for them to reach their destination. Frisk was still worried about being discovered by Ropen and Flowey was constantly scanning the surroundings. There were many close encounters in the jungle as they were nearly captured by: a troop of bald raptors with bunny hands, a pug faced Spinosaurus, and a whip tailed short necked plesiosaur. Thankfully, Frisk and Flowey were either to evade these threats or talk them down before things could get ugly. Still Frisk wished that their trek to this location was a lot safer, they had taken many hits of damage and Flowey was running low on energy. Even when they got within five hundred feet of Chaffey Point, Frisk was in no condition to continue.

 

The teen’s legs buckled under their own weight; they had been walking for so long and without rest that they could barely stand. To make matters worse, their food had run out a long time ago, a situation from the nausea they gained from their concussion. They were starving, anything would suffice for them right now. To their delight, when they looked around a corner, they saw a clearing that had a massive pile of fruits right at the base of a tree. The fruits skin was a rich golden sheen and was as majestic as the mask of a pharaoh. Their mouth watered as they slowly inched towards the pile, before being stopped by Flowey.

 

He whispered, “Frisk I know you’re hungry, but remember what Ahool told us. Her father has set up traps all across this forest, and don’t you think it’s convenient that there’s just a massive pile of fruits right on ground?” They nodded before saying, “I know, I know, it’s…I need something right now.” The flower sighed, “Okay, just take some out and then we’re scadadiling out of here.” Frisk said, “Wait, you’re actually okay with me grabbing some?” as Flowey replied, “Yes, yes, just make sure you don’t set anything off. In fact, I’m going to go over there and check for you.” He disappeared under the ground and tested the ground around the fruits.

 

“Okay Frisk, as I expected it is a trap,” said Flowey, “Specifically a couple of snare traps. I’d disable them, but it seems like they’re all connected to an alarm that will alert you know who. Do you still want to test your luck?” Frisk nodded as Flowey growled, “You’re such an idiot.”

They cautiously approached the fruit pile, their steps as careful as a tightrope walker in order not to set off any traps. It’s a daunting prospect, but Frisk was able to get around all of the traps they could see. Frisk grabbed four fruits from the pile before nervously walking away. The teen cautiously looked over their shoulders in case some beast had spotted them. At first it seemed like they were in the clear, before they heard an ear-piercing call in the distance. They dropped the fruits and covered their ears, but as they did this, they accidentally walked backwards and set off a snare trap. The teen was sent ten feet in the air as a loud alarm went off.

 

As quick as a bullet, Flowey rushed over and gave his vines spikes as he tore through the rope, leading to Frisk falling flat on their face. As they got up, Frisk exclaimed, “Flowey you didn’t cut all of it, as the flower replied, “There’s no time, we need to go now!” As the two ran straight into the woods, a massive figure descended into the clearing. Unfortunately Frisk only got a few steps in until their snare got tangled up in some low-lying plants. As they tried to pull it out, they caught a glimpse of the creature that stood in the clearing.

 

The first thing they noticed was its smell, its horrible smell. It smelled like a wet dog that had rolled around in a week-old carcass. Frisk assumed that it might’ve come from rotten meat that had gotten stuck to its bluish black matted feathers, or fur, Frisk wasn’t really sure what it was. Though as they looked at the creature, the more bizarre it seemed to be. 

 

From its backwards facing hands, to its huge pair of folded glowing wings, and glowing smile pattern on its chest. It’s most imposing feature was its beak; it was nearly ten feet long and had an odd spear-like point near the end of it. The beak was a cool cyan, with black bands that broke up its outline. Regardless of how horrible the creature smelled; Frisk had to admit that it looked really cool. They had never seen an animal like this before, and they had seen some pretty bizarre things in the Underground. Though as soon as they admired this animal, they were just as quickly brought back to reality as it slowly turned its head in their direction. They realized that this was a massive flying dinosaur(not really) that was as tall as a giraffe and as ravenous as a hyena. If they were going to survive, they needed to hide.

 

Frisk stayed right out of eyeshot as the beast observed the broken snare dangling from the tree. It looked on the ground and shifted through the remains of several broken yellow fruits. “...It seems like something broke out of this trap…” muttered the beast as it rubbed it’s fingers with the fruit’s juice. The human recognized that voice immediately, it was the same voice that interrupted Ahool on her phone call. This horrible beast must be Ahool’s father, and the hunter that they had been warned about. Frisk sank even lower to the ground as the creature started patrolling the perimeter of the clearing. He clacked his beak together as he said, “Come on little morsel, I know you’re here somewhere…” The beast licked beak as he continued, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite down. That’s it’s not my style, Hawhawhaw”

 

Flowey looked over at the massive beast, before seeing that Frisk still hadn’t moved more into the thicket. “What are you doing? We need to run now.” exclaimed Flowey as Frisk whispered, “I would if this dumb rope wasn’t stuck in the weeds, can you do something about it?” The flower rolled his eyes as he started sawing away at the weeds wrapped around the snare. “These weeds are extremely tough, I wasn’t expecting them to be this much of a problem.” said Flowey as Frisk replied, “Flowey it can’t be that har-Oww, watch the skin.” The flower grumbled, “You’re such a crybaby you know that, you remind me of when I was younger.” 

 

Unbeknownst to the two of them, the massive pterosaur had picked up on their conversation. He creepily turned his head towards the duo, eyeing both Flowey and Frisk…The human in question huffed, “To be fair, I have reason to cry right now, everything is going wrong.” To which Flowey replied, “Well if you keep moving, then I won’t be able to untangle this stupid snare. If you just stay still then I get you out of here in 30 seconds.” He grumbled as he untangled the last of the vines, before feeling a high amount of tension on the rope.

 

“Flowey what are you doing I thought you untangled it?” said Frisk as the flower replied, “I did, I don’t know what the hell i- OH SHIT.” The teen asked, “Flowey what’s going oooooon” before they felt their leg being pulled into the clearing. They were swept off their feet immediately and fell face first onto the ground. Frisk grabbed onto the side of a tree for dear life as the creature pulled their leg more and more. They held on as long as they could, but it was no use. Their exhaustion had already kicked in and this creature was way stronger than them. Eventually they felt their grip slipping off the bark before they were yanked off and pulled into the clearing. 

 

The Azhdarchid lifted Frisk up by the snare and dangled them above his head like a pendulum. They tried to break themselves free, but with the blood rushing to their head, and their own tiredness, they could barely untangle a single bit of it. As if to mock them, the beast slowly opened his mouth directly below Frisk. His breath was even more foul than his matted feathers, it smelled like something had died inside of him. Unfortunately from what little Frisk knew about, they knew that wasn’t just a hunch.  He cruelly smiled at them as he said, “I didn’t expect you to be such a fighter. Hawhawhaw, now that’s going to make things a lot more interesting. Still I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” The creature gleefully glared at them with his white star-like eyes and said, “So…what kind of animal are you?”

 

Frisk tried to say something, but they knew that if they said they were a human then their fate would be sealed. To make matters worse, they were too terrified to make a singular sound. The beast sighed, “I guess you aren’t a talker perhaps you must lack the mental capacity to speak.” The teen was offended by his comment as the beast continued, “Unfortunately you must know how this ends. All who fall to my traps are destined to become my meal, and you’re no exception.” Frisk’s face paled as the bastard cackled, “Oh don’t know that life isn’t fair, but no worries, it will all be over soon. As you fall to the Top Order Predator…”

 

Ropen Copebana”

Chapter 10: Terror Soars

“What the hell,” grumbled Flowey as he grabbed his forehead. The last thing he remembered was being smacked into the trunk of a tree by that ‘rat-stork.’ As he started to readjust to his surroundings, he heard a familiar voice cry out in terror. He looked up in horror as he saw Frisk being dangled above the maw of the pterosaur. Their life was literally hanging from a thread as the beast gingerly held the snare attached to their leg. One wrong move and they would end up in the beast's throat. Unfortunately, the pterosaur seemed to be aware of this as he shook the kid around for his own amusement. Their terrified cries were music to the beast’s ears as he dragged out this ordeal as long as possible. Though eventually even a creature like this can get bored. Sure, he could torment them throughout the day, but what would be the point in that? All he’d get is a funny story he could tell his kids, but every good story needs a permanent conclusion. A gurgling laughter came out of the beast’s mouth as he decided to end this little game. “...Oh well it’s been fun, but all good things must come to an end,” sneered Ropen, “bottoms up mammal, HAHAHAHAHA.” 

 

Frisk gasped as they were lowered into the beast's mouth. The world around them darkened as the pterosaur slowly closed his beak. They could feel the pressure on their legs start to lessen as the creature loosened its grip, as he intended to finish the job. Throughout their quivering breaths, Frisk thought, “I can’t let this end here, I didn’t come all this way just to become bird food.” Though at this point what could they even do? Ropen had them at his mercy and they were only seconds away from becoming the next victim of this horrible lizard. As they raced for answers Frisk realized one thing, their voice, they still had their voice. If they spoke to Ropen maybe they could convince him to spare them or at least buy them time. It might have been a longshot, but it was the only choice they had. So with fear in their voice, Frisk screamed out “ROPEN STOP!!!” 

 

There was a moment of silence as the beast stopped lowering them into his mouth. The world stopped as Frisk wondered, “D-did it work?” Without warning the beast opened his maw and hoisted Frisk out. He looked completely bewildered as he turned his head around the clearing, trying to find the source of the noise. Ropen took note of every noise, every misplaced step, he was so perceptive that even Sans would be jealous. The pterosaur even looked back at Frisk, before looking away, he must’ve suspected that the voice came from them.

 

. “...Okay, okay, who said that?” muttered the beast, “I don’t hear anyone around here…” As Frisk tried to pull themselves free, Ropen muttered, “Hmm that voice… Who could’ve made that voice?” He put a free hand to his beak and said, “It sounded a little bit feminine, though not too feminine, hmmm.” Frisk took offense to Ropen’s comment as he bellowed out “…OH, Marshy, was that you? Look, I know what you’re going to say, and I know you’ve had your grievances, but this is very…” He stopped himself mid-sentence before admitting, “Oh who am I kidding that voice sounded nothing like them… I just wanted them to be here…” The pterosaur looked almost wistful as he said that, as if Marshall was a close friend or maybe something more.

 

The beast once more asked himself, “Maybe Ahool said it, naw it sounded too young to be her.” He looked over to Flowey growling at him and said, “Say animate flower, can you talk?” Flowey glared as he said, “Of course I do you flipping rat bird,” Ropen sneered, “Listen here you little-, actually how old are you?” Immediately Flowey questioned, “Why does that matter?” as Ropen replied, “Because I refuse to swear in front of children, I don’t want to set a bad example.” Flowey and Frisk balked as the former exclaimed, “You were literally going to eat a kid,” as Ropen shooed away his question. “That’s different, this little screamer is a dumb little snack," claimed Ropen, “I doubt it could count to ten, let alone repeat basic swears.” 

 

Frisk’s fists bawled in frustration as Ropen continued, “Regardless I must keep my principles even in front of this stupid vermin.” As Frisk was about to yell, Ropen unexpectedly sat down, and jerked Frisk around like a pendulum. He said, “...Ah but to my original query, you see I’m a pterosaur, not a dinosaur, mammal, or any frankensteined combination of the two. That thought scares me, the filthiness of a vermin and the ego of a terrible lizard. Could you even imagine a creature like that?” Flowey remarked, “Yeah I think I could,” as Ropen replied, “Then you have an impressive imagination for a brainless weed.” The flower chuckled, that moron had such an inflated ego he didn’t even notice that he was insulting him. Ropen poked him in the face and said, “Regardless, you should get your facts straight, you dumb, dumb, dumb little producer.”

 

“Producer?” muttered Frisk as Ropen replied, “...Yes he’s a producer, the bottom of the food chain. In most circumstances would mean he’s dumb as roc-” He paused as he suddenly looked over to Frisk and exclaimed, “Wait you can talk?” as Frisk bitterly replied, “yeah.” Ropen theatrically bemoaned, “Oh no I caught a talking vermin, my rebellious daughter will never let me hear the end of this. All she talks about now are “morals” and “please dad, don’t eviscerate that poor talking squirrel. Ugh it’s so exhausting, I don't know how many more years I can deal with her preachy pacifist routine.”

 

Frisk asked, “That just seems like she’s a good person, how the heck is that rebellious?” Ropen explained, “Because she has a glorious role to fill in the ecosystem, a Top Order Predator, the absolute commanders of an ecosystem. If she keeps up this routine, all she’s going to do is starve herself. I don’t get it, her twin brother is far less rebellious and I raised them both the same way. What did I do to deserve this?” Frisk claimed, “W-well maybe it’s karma for you know, eating people.” Ropen shook his head and replied, “What are you talking about? I don’t eat people, I eat prey, there’s a difference.” While shaking Frisk said, “You literally held me over your open mouth, if I hadn’t spoken up you would ha-” As Ropen interjected, “Well that’s because you’re not a person.” 

 

Frisk exclaimed, “E-excuse you,” as their face was wracked with bewilderment. They had dealt with difficult people in the past, those who’d call them weak, annoying, or childish, but they had never had someone brazenly deny their personhood. As their mind processed Ropen’s remark, a horrible realization came to their mind. “Is this how he justifies killing people?” thought Frisk, “By acting like they were never people to begin with?” The pterosaur laughed, “Well obviously you’re not a person, I don’t even think you’re a monster. Just look at you, you’re clearly food.” Frisk yelled, “I am not food!” as Ropen threw them onto the ground. “We’ll see about that…” sneered the beast. 

 

Frisk tried to run away but fell right on the ground as their leg yanked back by the snare. “Hold your equids kiddo,” laughed Ropen, “Did you not think I would have contingency plans? Fool, I always have contingency plans.” They looked and saw that Ropen had one of his front feet pinned on their snare. It was like a cat grabbing the tail of a mouse, no matter how much they ran, they could never escape him. “I hate you,” grumbled Frisk as the beast laughed in their face, “...Noted…” 

 

With a grin on his beak, Ropen asked, “So what kind of creature are you?… The only things that look similar to you are the king and queen. Are you related to them?” Despite trying to hide his intentions, Frisk immediately saw through his ruse. They remembered what Ahool had told them, they could not let him know that they were human. “I’m a h-Monster, I’m just a monster,” lied Frisk, their face drenched with worry. “Really now…” said Ropen, “Because last I checked, monsters don’t bleed.” The human touched their forehead and realized that they still had some dried blood from their initial fall. “To be fair some of them do,” interjected Flowey, “I’ve seen a skeleton bleed before.” Ropen spun one of his fingers near the side of his head in a mocking fashion as Flowey yelled, “I’m being serious.” Ropen rolled his eyes and said, “Sure you are solar muncher, now as I was saying-” The Flower interjected, “My name is Flowey.”

 

Ropen held his mouth before uproariously laughing at the name. “Flowey, FLOWEY, what kind of uncreative drivel is that? It would be like if I were named Hatzeg or Ptero, HAHAHAHAHA.” As the beast laughed, Flowey leaned over to Frisk and said, “You how you have a no kill rule.” Frisk meekly replied, “Y-yeah,” as Flowey asked, “Could you please make an exception for this guy.” They whispered, “Flowey we can’t just kill people, look I hate him as much you but-” Flowey interjected, “Dude, he literally tried to eat you, and is going to if he finds out that you’re a hu-” Frisk immediately shushed him and said, “I know, I know I know, but you need to trust me on this. I mean, maybe I can convince him to change his ways? I was able to redeem Asgore and Undyne so why should he be an exception?” Flowey countered, “Frisk you wouldn’t have changed Undyne without Papyrus, and Asgore would rather die than start another war with humans. This guy, this guy doesn’t even see you as a person. What hope do you even have in changing him?” 

 

“Well, I first of all, I’m going to prove him wron-” said Frisk before Ropen grabbed them by the face. “I’m going to need a sample of your blood,” said the Pterosaur as Frisk exclaimed, “Wait why?” Ropen explained, “...Because I can determine the cladistics of a creature just from the taste of that red gooey liquid.” Nervously Frisk asked, “W-what are cladistics?” as Ropen sighed. “They’re how closely related a species is to other ones, it’s like Linnaean Classification, except it’s not bullcrap.” Inside Frisk’s mind Dash wondered why the heck did this pterosaur knew so much about biology? He knew about scientific names, top order predators, and now taxonomy. How did he even learn about all of this stuff? Perhaps it was a question for another time.

 

Ropen leaned a finger towards Frisk’s forehead only for the teen to look away. Ropen sighed, “Fine be like that, we’re doing things the old-fashioned way.” He extended a finger claw like a knife and scratched Frisk’s left cheek. They cried out in pain as the pterosaur put the blood into his beak. “Hmm, it’s definitely a mammal, I’m getting Boreoeutherian vibes as well hmm,” said Ropen as Frisk looked on in horror. While they had no idea what a Boreoeutharian was, it was probably a clade that included humans. The Azhdarchid continued to ponder as he said, “Hmm but there’s an odd aftertaste, the only times I’ve tasted this is when I ate some primates… Wait a minute…” He slammed Frisk to the ground and said, “You’re a human aren’t you?” 

 

The jungle went quiet, dead quiet. The only thing Frisk could hear was the rustling of some bushes behind them and their own nervous breathing. “A human? Isn’t that weird glowing cryptid that everyone’s been talking about?” exclaimed Frisk as Ropen glared at them. “Don’t play dumb with me…” said the beast, “You’ve already blatantly lied about being a monster, so why is this any different.” He dragged Frisk along the ground and said, “You know I already suspected that you were a human, no other creature other than some monsters have that bipedally erect stance.” The teen weakly chuckled as Ropen glared right in their face, shutting them up instantly. “So immature…” muttered the beast before heavily sighing, “What am I going to do with you now?”

 

The rustling in the woods became even more noticeable as something started to move in the trees canopy. Ropen laughed as he started to inch his beak closer and closer to Frisk, “I have an idea.” Frisk put up their hands and said, “Woah woah woah, can we please talk about this?” Ropen sneered, “There’s nothing to discuss, I’ve been hunting for a human for over a week I am not letting you go.” The teen said, “Well why not have some of the fruit instead, you did pick a lot of it after all.” The beast laughed, “Are you seriously using that bait as a way of saving your life? how pathetic…” He started to open the beak more as Flowey yelled, “Do you really want to eat something that consumes garbage?” 

 

Ropen stopped his attack and looked at Flowey with the most bewildered expression imaginable. “What kind of garbage?” muttered the pterosaur as Flowey said, “Oh all of it, they’ve eaten half eaten burgers, sun spoiled egg salads, yellow wilted lettuce leaves, glitter covered nuggets the works.” With his mouth open wide Ropen apprehensively asked Frisk, “I-is this true?” Frisk immediately replied, “Oh it’s all true, in fact that’s just scratching the surface.” They looked at the beast with full confidence, desperately masking that Flowey was lying about half of that. “They also have jaundice,” said Flowey as Frisk exclaimed, “No I d-” as the flower hushed them. “I am trying to save your life,” said Flowey through gritted teeth as Frisk added, “Oh yeah I do, really bad jaundice, if you eat me your liver will flipping explode.”

 

The pterosaur’s eyes narrowed as he took in the information. He released Frisk from his grasp and said, “...Very well, you’re free to go.” Apprehensively Frisk said, “Wait, are you actually letting me go?” as Ropen replied, “Of course…After all, us Top Order Predators always go after the healthiest prey imaginable. We never ever go after the weak, young, and sick.” Frisk could feel the sarcasm dripping off his words, staining his speech like the goo of a poisoned apple. They walked back and said, “Why did that sound like a veiled threat?” They kept their eyes on the beast making sure he didn’t make any sudden moves. Weirdly, their star shaped eyes started to spin as they walked backwards before they realized that their legs stopped moving. “...You know I’ve heard stories about human determination,” said Ropen, “Let’s put it to the test.” He lowered his head to the ground and opened his mouth wide. “If you’re soooo determined then surely you can resist my hypnosis,” said Ropen as Frisk stuttered out, “H-hypnosis?” 

 

The beast laughed, “Yesss though not hypnosis of the mind, just the body. You can think whatever you want, say whatever you want, if you can’t stop your body it won’t matter. Now walk forward morsel, to your own death HAHAHAHHAHA!” Frisk watched in horror as their legs started to march right towards the beast’s open maw. They tried to fight it, they really did, but no matter what they did their body wouldn’t listen, even Flowey was hypnotized by the eyes. They looked up at the tree and saw more rustling in it, and yelled, “Ahool, anyone help, I can’t stop him.” Ropen laughed, “No one can hear you morsel, now embrace your place in the food chain and rest within me. That it, a little bit more and-” before he was cut off as the figure from the trees rocketed towards him. He didn’t have time to react as he was smacked on the side of the head and crashed into the nearby foliage.

 

His attacker dropped down to the ground on a single knee. They were quite small compared to Ropen, at best half a foot taller than Frisk. They had a long-spiked tail poking out of a long red cloak. Frisk noticed that their cloak had a single pattern of cyan diamond running through the middle of it. Upon their face was a weird, ridged beak, which was unlike anything Frisk had ever seen before. 

 

The rest of their face was obscured by the shadow of a tattered cowboy hat. The top part of it was ripped off exposing the bone white skull dome they used to bash Ropen. As they tilted their hat up, Frisk saw just how tired their eyes looked. It was like they had seen decades of fighting and were now ready to rest. Strangely they also had a passing resemblance to Monster Kid, albeit a lot older and a lot tougher. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

 

The stranger shook their head and yelled, “Stop gawking, that won’t keep him down for long.” Frisk broke out of their trance and ran towards the stranger and the brush. “W-who are you?” asked Frisk, as Ropen yelled out, “MARSHALL, what the fu-.” The stranger rolled their eyes and claimed, “Well there’s yah answer, now keep on moving.” Frisk nodded as they pushed through vines and twigs.  They ran as fast as they could but at one point their worst fears were realized, their snare got caught yet again.

 

They tried to pull themselves free as they heard the pterosaur galloping towards them. “Shit, shit, shit,” thought Frisk right as they tried to untangle the rope. The sounds of Ropen crashing through the forest enveloped Frisk’s mind as they started to see his pale blue glow. They looked up and saw Ropen glaring down at them. He slammed his beak down in an attempt to grab them. Thankfully, Frisk was moved out of the way by Marshall who grabbed their shoulder and ran away from the hungry pterosaur. 

. “Ack, hey that hurts,” complained Frisk as the dinosaur-like monster’s beak burrowed into their skin. Marshall replied, “Would you rather be bit by me or him,” as Frisk quietly said, “You.” 

The MK lookalike nodded and said, “Doncha worry we’ll be out of here soon, as long as I take the right path.” Frisk asked, “W-wait you don’t know where we’re going?” as Marshall replied, “No I know where we’re going. It’s just that all of these trees look pretty similar, so it’s easy to get lost. Though no worries, I know this forest like the back of my tail, we’ll be out of here soon enough.” They ran to the edge of the forest and onto a clearing that overlooked the side of a waterfall. “You were saying,” grumbled Flowey before he was spooked by Ropen slowly emerging out of the jungle with vines on his beak.

 

As he plucked the weeds out of his plumage, the beast remarked, “I must say Marshy, you're getting better with your chases, but we all knew it would end this way.” His sickening beak grinned against the mangled vines that covered it. “I'll give you an ultimatum, bring me the human or I'll tell the King and Queen about your village. The choice is yours…” 

 

Marshall visibly mulled over this decision. They knew that Ropen was bluffing as he was a constant critic of the King and Queen. Ropen might have been a lot of things, a murderer, a monster, but even he had principles, If he wanted to tell the tyrants about their village then he would have done so a long time ago. Ropen slowly walked forward and clacked his beak at Frisk and Marshall, as a way to pressure them into a decision. Despite Ropen’s threats, Marshall just looked down at the cascading waterfall before grinning, they had been here before. “So what’s your choice…” taunted Ropen as Marshall said, “Simple, I’m creatin’ my own,” before tackling themselves and Frisk off the cliff. 

 

“What are you doing,” yelled Frisk as Marshall wrapped their tail around their side. “Savin’ your life,” said Marshall as they charged up and rushed into the waterfall. High speed winds hit Frisk and Flowey’s faces as they screamed for their lives. Frisk closed their eyes as rushing water splashed them in the face, fearing the brutalizing impact of solid stone. Though instead of that, they passed further waterfall as Marshall skidded to a halt. They gently let Frisk go and let them slowly open their eyes. Frisk stared in amazement as they realized that they were in the entrance of a large cave system.

 

The walls were covered in limestone, and cool water dripped down from a menagerie of imposing stalagmites. It almost reminded them of the area that they left in the Underground. Though before they could fully appreciate it, Marshall beckoned them to come forward. They looked backwards and saw the silhouette of Ropen appear in the waterfall. Frisk immediately dashed toward the back of the cave as Ropen’s jaws burst through the rushing water. He snapped at them, like a hand trying to grab the last potato chip in a tubular can. Despite his determination, it was clear that the cave’s entrance was far too tight for him. His delicate wings could get damaged or snapped if he tried to move into the cave. No matter how much he struggled, there was no way that he could’ve gotten any further. Out of options, he tried once more to hypnotize them with his star-like eyes, but Frisk simply looked away from him. No matter what he tried, every attempt to snatch his prey was all in vain.

 

He growled as he stared at Frisk, their very presence taunting him with their continued survival, but he knew this was pointless. As he threw in the towel, Ropen sneered, “...You might have won this round human, but this far from over. You can run, Run RUN all you want but your niche remains the same. You’re just a sad, sad little lamb prime for the slaughter.” Ropen laughed as he tried to maintain what little pride he had left. Clinging to the side of a cliff, while water splashed him in the back wasn’t a good look for him. 

 

He cleared his throat before looking down and saying, “Also Marshy, buddy, pal, amigo. If you dare hide them at that little camp of yours, trust me I’ll know. And when I find them, I’ll burn your little encampment to the ground and make you watch their final moments, HAW HAW HAW HAW.” Ropen then pulled his head out of the cave, nearly slipping off the side of the falls. He shook his head as he regained his footing and then flew off.

 

Frisk breathed heavily as the adrenaline slowly left their system. It dawned on them that they survived that, they actually survived that. They meekly exclaimed, “D-Did he actually leave? I didn’t think that was possible.” Marshall nodded and added, “Despite his jabbering Ropen does have his limits. Now get up, we're losing daylight.” Flowey remarked, “I don’t think this place has any sun,” as Marsh groaned, “It’s a figure of speech flower. Now move it unless y’all want him to come back for round two.” Frisk flinched before instantly running over to Marshall. They nearly slipped on the wet ground, but they didn’t care, anything was better than being grabbed by Ropen. While grabbing onto Marshall’s shoulders, Frisk looked back at the cascading falls with fear in their eyes. Even if Ropen moved on, something told them that they shouldn’t let their guard down, lest they become a target once again. 

 

This fear became more palpable as they walked into the cave. It went on for miles and it was so dark that Frisk couldn’t see anything, not even their own hands. The only thing they could hear was the sound of water droplets splashing onto the ground. Plip, Plip, Plip, Plip. Other than that, it was way too quiet. They were tired, scared, and mostly alone, they were a sitting duck to any potential dangers that lurked in the cave. If anything wanted to attack them this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Unlike Frisk, Marshall appeared to be completely unbothered by the pitch-black cave system. Despite the darkness they showed no fear, despite their tiredness they kept the pace, for it all felt routine for them.

 

“I think we’re far enough from him,” casually remarked Marshall, “Do any of you two have anything flammable?” Frisk nodded and finally untangled their snare and the weeds that had been intermixed with it, just as Flowey offered one of his vines. Marshall took the materials from the two of them and found one of the few dry areas of the cavern. They breathed heavily, before a glowing apparition appeared behind them and set the materials on fire “You two looked exhausted so I thought y’all could use a break,” said Marshall as Frisk and Flowey immediately moved in front of the fire.

 

They stared into the flickering flames, the warm heat drying Frisk’s cold and wet body. Marshall sympathetically asked, “How are you doing kid?” as Frisk breathlessly said, “o-okay,” before looking off to the side. With tears in their eyes Frisk said, “I just can’t believe he almost…” as Marshall scoffed, “Ate you? Bah you're far from his first target. Most of my friends were nearly victims of him as well. As messed up as it is, they’re actually the lucky ones, most people don’t survive against Ropen.” Frisk looked down and remarked, “That really isn’t reassuring…” as Marshall retorted, “Well It’s not supposed to be, I’m not going to hide the truth from you.” 

 

The teenager didn’t know why, but Marshall’s last comment actually filled them with some dignity. After a week of trying to hide what was going on, it was refreshing to meet someone who would tell them the truth, even if it was unpleasant. They looked into the fire before Marshall continued, “You know, Ropen tells me that our roles down here are unbreakable. He says that it doesn’t matter how much we struggle, our niches will never ever change. According to him, me and my crew are some of the few people save from his menu and that’s only because he likes me.”

 

Frisk asked, “Wait, likes you? You mean that in a platonic way, right?” as Marshal grumbled, “God I wish so. Unfortunately, that bastard has a schoolboy crush on me, he thinks we can easily segway from enemies to lovers. I hate it, but at least it keeps my crew alive.” They bitterly looked into the fire before hanging their head down. “Wow he just keeps giving me more and more reasons to hate him,” said Frisk, “Have you told him how you feel?” Marshall sighed, “No, and it would be suicidal to try it. So, for the time being, I might as well take advantage of his delusions for the sake of the others.” Marshall walked away from the fire and said, “Speaking of my crew, you’ll be staying with them for the foreseeable future. I can’t in good conscious let someone as clueless as you walkin’ around unsupervised.” 

 

Frisk sputtered out, “C-clueless? I’m a lot of things but I’m not clueless. Heck I even talked him out of eating me for a few minutes, that gotta amount to something right?” In an instant, Marshall laughed at the teen and said, “No, no it really doesn’t. Plus, he wasn’t convinced by you, he was just playing with his food.” Frisk looked off in defeat before Marshall said, “Look I just don’t want you running off into another trap, don’t want to deal with that fiasco again, right?” Flowey spoke up, “To be fair I was the one who originally helped them out of the snare,” Marshall interjected, “And you did a lousy job at that. Seriously, did you see how many times they got stuck on the run?” The flower rolled his eyes while saying, “Hey if I hadn't got them down they would have been rat bird chow.” Marsh chuckled, “Rat Bird huh? Hahahaha, good one I’m stealing that insult.” 

 

Frisk interjected, “You know Flowey has a point, you could’ve helped a lot sooner than you did.” The hatted monster replied, “I helped you at the perfect time,” as Frisk retorted, “I heard you moving in the trees, you were there for everything.” Exasperated, Marshall claimed, “ha, well umm, I needed to get into the right position, don't want to fly right over him amirite.” While rolling their eyes Frisk asked, “right… So how did you even find me?” Marshall replied, “Let’s just I can’t ignore the screams of an innocent in danger. Besides, I happened to be in the area when you got attacked so that helped.” Frisk pondered this before remarking, “Huh, I guess Ahool was right about that.”

 

Marshall stopped before looking Frisk dead in the eyes and asked, "Ahool told you about me?” As Frisk nodded, the cloaked figure tipped their hat down and said, “You know, she’s Ropen’s daughter, I wouldn’t trust her if I were you.” The teen retorted, “I don’t think she's anything like her father, especially with how much he complained about her being rebellious. Honestly, I think I’ll be fine.” Marshall sighed, “Well it’s your funeral, not mine” as they trotted forward. Frisk tried to argue with them, but the mysterious monster just ignored them. They splashed out the fire and said, “Come on, it’s not too much further.”

 

The human got up as the flower wrapped around their arm. It thankfully didn’t take long for the trio to find an exit. Frisk looked on with hope as soon as they poked their head back into the light and crawled out of one of the holes. Marshall discreetly covered this hole with a boulder, before walking up to a large door made up of wooden pikes. 

 

“What’s the password?” asked an old woman’s voice as Marshall said, “Shatter the chains.” The door slowly opened as an old monster that resembled a cross between Onion-san and an ammonite greeted them. “Ah Marshall, you’ve been gone the whole day and we were all getting worried about you.” The hatted monster waved her off and said, “Ah, y’all worry too much. You should know me by now Chive-o-bāsan.” She looked down and asked, “Say, who's your new little friend?” Marshall explained, “Just another kid who was nearly taken by Ropen. I’m going to keep them here until I’m sure they can survive on their own.” Frisk interjected, “Which hopefully should only take a day,” as Marshall chuckled, “Someone’s confident, let's see how long it lasts.”

 

Chive-o-bāsan sighed as she sympathetically looked down at the two of them bickering. “You poor little baby,” said the ammonite, “You look like you’ve been through a lot today.” Frisk stammered, “I-I’m not a baby, I’m a teenager,” as the ammonite lady hushed them. “To me everyone is a baby,” said Chive-o-bāsan, “Including your rescuer.” Marshal sharply said, “Hey,” as Chive-o-bāsan chuckled. “You know for someone who used to call themselves Monster Kid, you’re quite sensitive about that,” said the ammonite as Marshall retorted, “To be fair I haven’t called myself that in ages. Even Ropen fell down after I abandoned the name.” 

 

“I knew it,” remarked Frisk, “I knew you were a counterpart of Monster Kid.” Marshall sighed, “I guess I was younger in your universe; I don’t continuously hit my head there do I?” Frisk nervously claimed, “N-no I have never seen MK ever fall on the ground, never.” Flowey chuckled, “They’re not a good liar,” as Marshall agreed with him. While rolling her eyes, Chive-o-bāsan opened the doors to the camp and cradled Frisk in their arms like an infant. 

 

“And I thought Toriel babied me,” complained Frisk as the Ammonite replied, “The biker? I hope I'm more affectionate than her.” Frisk replied, “She’s not a biker,” as Chive-o-bāsan replied, “She was in my universe.” As she said that, Frisk was essentially kicking themselves in their mind. They had to remember that nearly everyone here had all come from their own universe where things could be radically different. Still the idea of a roadhog Toriel was something that Frisk couldn’t wrap their mind around no matter how much they tried. Still though, it would be just as weird to meet a grisled 40-year-old Monster Kid, and a grandmotherly Onion-San, and yet here they were standing right before them. Maybe this wasn’t so weird after all, or maybe they were just gaslighting themselves, both options seemed plausible to Frisk. 

 

As they were carried into the camp, Frisk was immediately taken aback by the houses. They resembled large tents covered in animal skins and spray-painted bright neon colors. Many of the residents were also carrying around strange amulets that had a bizarre liquid inside them. “Hey Marshall, what are those amulets for?” asked Frisk as Marshall replied, “Those are Ultraviolet necklaces, they might look tame, but they can disorientate any dinosaur. I'm sure you will use them well.” Frisk nodded before calling to a man holding the amulet. “Hey, do you know where to get one of those?” asked the human as the man simply growled at them. “Rude,” remarked Frisk as Chive-o-bāsan remarked, “He’s not rude, he’s just tired, we all are.”  She definitely had a point as nearly every resident looked like they had seen better days. From missing limbs, to pitch black bags under their eyes, not even Marshall was immune from this trend. No matter where they looked, an air of hopelessness rang over all of them.

 

“What happened to everyone?” asked Frisk, “Why do they look so miserable?” Marshall sighed as a crowd started to form around them. “Kinda hard to be happy when you’ve lost everything,” muttered the MK lookalike, “Sure we might have survived, but we’re very much the exception.” Frisk asked, “You’re talking about Ropen right?” as Marshall shook their head. They replied, “No this is far worse than Ropen, Skollhati is responsible for this. Our friends, families, history, everything has been reduced to ash. Heck we can’t even say our relatives are in a better place as now there’s nowhere left to go.” Frisk looked down and trembled, how many worlds were brought into this refugium? How many worlds were extinguished by Skollhati? W-would this be the fate of their world if they couldn’t talk the wolf out of this? Would they or someone they know be the only survivor in a cold and indifferent universe after everyone was erased. Frisk muttered, “T-that's horrible…” as Marshall nodded before saying, “Of course but what can you do? That wolf doesn't care about us, at least not anymore.” 

 

Marshall readjusted their hat and said, “But enough of that, you’ve been through too much today and this sure as hell ain’t makin’ it better.” Chive-o-bāsan remarked, “You can say that again, still isn’t this little one the victim of this? That is unless they-” Flowey interjected, “Our world is still around, we’re actually here to fix it.” The Ammonite remarked, “Is that so, well I hope you can find a way to succeed; most worlds are not as lucky as yours.” Marshall remarked, “You’ve gotta have a lot more guts than I expected kiddo, a little foolhardy perhaps, but it’s better than nothing. Now come on, I’ll set up a tent for you, you honestly need it.” As the two older monsters pushed through the crowd, Frisk asked, “Are you sure this place is safe?” Marshall sighed, “no worries we'll hide you if he shows up.” With panic in their voice Frisk asked, “Well what if that doesn't work?” as Marshall replied, “Then I'll create a distraction…” 

 

As Frisk thought about what Marshall meant, the monster found a tent that would be perfect for them. It was unoccupied and only big enough to fit a few people, but it had a container that Frisk could hide in case Ropen burst into camp. They really hoped that it wouldn’t come to that but given how much bolder the pterosaur had gotten in recent years, it would be a necessary defense. “Get some shut eye kid, we’ll keep an eye on you.” Frisk nodded before pulling out a busted drone. “Can you help me fix her?” asked Frisk as Chive-o-bāsan and Marshall were given the drone. 

 

The two of them were surprised by the sheer ingenuity of the device. It seemed to be made from an age far more advanced than their own, even if that wasn’t saying much. “Good lord this incredible kiddo,” remarked Marshall, “Even Mr.Purrfect would be jealous of this.” Frisk laughed, “Who calls themselves Mr.Perfect?” as Chive-o-bāsan replied, “Only the great engineer in the entirety of the Leftovers, though not much is known about him. He usually keeps himself locked up in a golden city, far above here.” Marshall remarked, “I’ve heard he forces people to worship him; I wouldn’t mess with him. Most people who get accepted into the Golden City never get out.” Frisk remarked, “I-I’ll keep that in mind, o-oh can I also charge my phone, I want to make some calls.”

 

Marshall shook their head, “Kids these days,” remarked the grisled monster. “You’re in luck, we’ve got some chargers that can work with your phone, just don’t stay up too late. Or else Ropen will getcha.” Chive-o-bāsan elbowed them on the side as Marshall silently apologized. They gave Frisk the charger and the teen waited several minutes for it to charge up. “So who are you going to call?” asked Flowey, “Are you going to call Ahool again?” Frisk shook their head and replied, “M-maybe later, but Ropen was able to spy on our last call, and I don’t want to go through that again. How about Alphys, she’s probably been worried sick about me ever since this morning.” 

 

Flowey laughed, “What are you going to tell her that you were almost gobbled up by an overgrown flying dinosaur. Honestly Frisk, I think you’ll give her a heart attack.” Frisk balked, “Well I-I’ll leave that part out, I just want to tell her that I’m currently safe and not dead. I bet she’s worried about the later.” They called the number, and it unfortunately gave them an error message. “I guess we’ll have to wait for the drone to establish cross dimensional communication again” remarked Frisk before calling Undyne’s number. 

 

“Why are you calling her?” asked Flowey, “Didn’t she.... you know di=?” As Frisk retorted, “We don’t know that, besides even if she did bite the dust, it doesn't hurt to try.” As they waited on baited, Frisk thought of the person Undyne was. She was strong, courageous, and the perfect hero if anyone could survive in this world it was her. Sure she wasn’t perfect as she was incredibly hot-headed and used to have an intense prejudice against humans, but those days were thankfully long behind her. Besides, even with those flaws, there was no way that they could have held her back, right? The ringing became more overwhelming as it seemed like no one would pick up. For one agonizing minute, it felt like Frisk’s efforts were all in vain, only for someone to finally pick it up.

 

“Oh my god Undyne you’re still alive,” exclaimed Frisk, “Look I went looking for you and Sans and accidently fell into this crazy refugium. If you’re able to, please try to get some help.” The voice on the other hand didn’t reply. “Undyne…are you still there?” asked Frisk as the person on the other line said, “Frisk is that you?” The teen was shaken when they heard the voice and exclaimed, “Wait Chara?! What are you doing answering Undyne’s phone?” Flowey immediately rushed over and tried to pluck it out of Frisk’s hand. “Let me talk to my sibling,” demanded Flowey as Frisk stated, “No this is my phone, use your own.” In a deadpan voice Chara said, “Just turn it on speaker,” as Frisk did this they asked them once more why they had Undyne’s phone.

 

Chara sighed and said, “Simple, Pandora stole it and thought that I should have it.” Frisk nervously asked, “What happened to Sans and Undyne?” The other human paused before replying, “They are still alive, but I am not sure for how much longer…they are now in the grips of the king and queen.” Frisk started shaking as Flowey remarked, “Well at least they’re alive, that’s better than nothing,” but Frisk didn’t stop. They just kept muttering a single word to themselves, “How, how, how,” Chara nervously asked, “Frisk are you alright?” as Flowey claimed, “They’ve been through the wringer today, they almost followed in your example.” 

 

“In my… Oh my god.” remarked Chara, “Frisk you did not.” Before Flowey said, “Don’t worry Sib, I talked them out of it. They were really worried about falling in here and that’s before they were almost eaten by a pterosaur.” Chara exclaimed, “W-wait, they saw Ropen!” as Frisk asked, “Wait, how do you know about him?” In a panic, Chara claimed, “Look I saw him last week, I did not know he was already back in his domain. Regardless, I should tell you what happened to Sans and Undyne.” Before Frisk said, “No,” as Chara asked, “No…Did you not call me for answers?” Only for Frisk to say, “No, that’s not what I mean, Chara, there's clearly a lot that has happened to you in the past week. What you told me in that dream indicated it. We can now talk to each other, so please tell me everything.”

 

Chara apprehensively asked, “Frisk are you sure about this? This has not been a fun week for me.” As Frisk replied, “Hey I bet it’s more pleasant than almost becoming pterosaur chow.” Before Chara claimed, “Well you would be surprised, regardless after I am done with my story you have to tell me yours.” The ambassador laughed, “Ohh are you getting curious” as Chara laughed, “Well I have not gotten any insight into what happened with you. Besides, it is a fair deal is it not?” While chuckling Frisk said, “Alright, tell your story Captain Cryptic,” as Chara laughed, “As you wish Partner.” 

 

“Now, let us start from where we left off…”

Chapter 11: A Dragonfly in a bird cage

Marshall’s Camp had become eerily quiet as the sky began to darken. Even though they were protected from all sides thanks to the camp’s wooden walls and window like barrier, no one felt comfortable making a sound. For this was the time when the apex predators were the most active. Some poked at the walls, others simply ignored it, but as long as these creatures were near their camp no one could feel safe, no one except Frisk.

 

They were bundled up in a tiger patterned sleeping bag as they stared into their phone’s screen. Their face and the walls around them were illuminated by the cold blue tint of their phone screen. The shadows around them dripped off the walls and slunk across the ground. If Frisk had been anymore paranoid, they might have been worried by this scenery, but they weren’t. They had narrowly escaped becoming lunch for a prideful pterosaur a couple of hours ago, they weren’t going to let these shadows scare them, especially not when there were more pressing matters to attend to.

 

On the other side of their screen, Chara cleared their voice and looked directly at Frisk. They held up their phone right up to their face so that Frisk couldn’t see any of the details of the room. Maybe they were trying to hide from someone who’d interrupt the call, or maybe they were trying to hide something. Either way none of that mattered as Chara began to tell Frisk their story.

 

“You know, you are not the only one who was experiencing bad dreams,” said Chara. “For the past few nights, I thought I was trapped in the middle of a blood-stained sea. The waves were as vicious as a rabid dog, and the sky was as dark as the deepest cavern. My only means of protection was a small wooden raft that could barely support my weight, though it was better than the alternative.  As I clung on for dear life, I heard the voices of my friends and family call out to me. My mom, my dad, Undyne and even the skeleton brothers were among this choir, but something did not feel right.”

 

“You really hate me that much...?”

 

Why are they saying that?

 

“ST-STILL, I BELIEVE IN YOU!”

 

When did they say that?

 

“This world will live on.”

 

Why does this feel familiar?

 

I did not have time to comprehend this before an enormous demon emerged from the ocean. It had a scarlet red skeleton and a skyscraper-sized sword that dragged along the ocean floor. The long droning noise from beneath as its blade scrapped across the bed rock. The waves wrapped around its legs like a bunch of scared kids running to the nearest adult. Unfortunately their efforts were fruitless as the beast simply shoved past them. It was like they were never there in the first place. It leaned over to me with its skeletal mouth agape as I asked, “W-What are you…?” The sea started to boil as similar creatures emerged from its depths. They all possessed the same ghastly face as the original, with black ooze dripping from their eyes. Before I knew it, the first demon grabbed me with its free hand and forced me into the sea. As my head sank beneath the waves, they all chanted, “YOU CAN NOT RUN, YOU CAN NOT ESCAPE, FOR WE ARE YOUR FATE.”

 

Frisk and Flowey went cold as Chara explained this. They shared a knowing look as they recognized what this dream could represent. “Do you have any questions?” asked Chara as Frisk replied, “N-no, but I think I know what that thing was. When Alphys placed me and Flowey in that mind-linking machine, I saw a version of myself that slaughtered everyone. According to Dash, this route would corrupt you as well, maybe this demon is a representation of what you could become if you went down that path.” Chara asked, “Who is Dash?” before they immediately put two and two together. “Oh my god, they are the entity that tricked us into making that deal.” Their partner replied, “That would be them, though for the record they regret it.”

 

“They, heh, regret it?” said Chara as they hid their coarse and broken laughter. “Heh Heh Hah, they screwed over the entire world and only now they feel bad about it.” Frisk replied, “Chara they’re doing the-” before Chara interjected, “Do not defend them Frisk, they made their choice a long time ago.” Flowey smirked as his sibling said this, the irony was as delicious as a chocolate covered elephant ear.

 

“Don’t act like you didn’t agree to it,” said Flowey, “Frisk told me everything.” His sibling replied, “You are right about that, but you are missing some crucial context. Frisk was worried that it was the only way for us to escape that void, and I did not know it would alert Skollhati.” They looked off to the side as they remembered that “Dash” looked just as worried when the wolf made herself known in that dream. Maybe they were genuine and actually just wanted one last adventure with their friends before moving on with their life. Despite the apocalyptic consequences of their actions, even Chara recognized that it was not their intention to doom the world. Still, they had their reasons not to trust the entity. Even if the wolf hadn’t thrown them into this hell world, they still didn’t want this parasite to have any control over their partner. 

 

“The point is, I did not know that this would happen,” said Chara, “But I bet they were in the same boat as me.” They pinched their temple before sighing loudly, even though they wanted to hide it, some part of them related to the entity. Chara brushed away these feelings as they composed themselves while a more pressing question came to mind. “Frisk, you mentioned that Dash knew about timelines where I was corrupted,” said Chara, “How did they learn about this?” Their partner’s lips quivered as they tried to make a response, but something was clearly preventing them from doing it. Whether they didn’t want to tell Chara, or Dash was preventing them from speaking was anyone’s guess. Either way their silence was enough of an answer for their partner.

 

“Alright keep your secrets,” said Chara, “I will find out eventually.” They chuckled as their eyes and smile glinted with dark determination. “Either way, that is far from where our story ends…”

 

I experienced these nightmares every night I slept in the yellow bed. It did not matter how or when, they would always get the better of me. Perhaps that is why I mentally linked with you and Asriel, part of me hoped that you two could free me from these nightmares. Heh, how pathetic is that? I told my own brother, “big kids do not cry” and yet here I am asking for his help after I had a bad dream. I am a flipping hypocrite.

 

Frisk shook their head as they said, “Well I don’t think you’re pathetic, there’s no shame in asking for help. Heck if I didn’t talk to Sans we wouldn’t have been able to find you.” Chara’s voice softened as they thanked Frisk, only for Flowey to say, “But you’re still a hypocrite.” Unexpectedly, Chara didn’t seem annoyed by his comment, in fact they were quite amused by it. They could tell that it was nothing more than sibling-like ribbing on his part, nothing worth getting upset about. As Flowey started to bicker with his revived sibling, Frisk wondered why Chara never told anyone else that they were experiencing frequent nightmares. Even if they couldn’t ask the Void Tyrants, there was one person watching over them that they could’ve talked to. With that thought in mind, Frisk asked, “So why didn’t you tell Pandora about this? I know she’s a lot younger than you and is working with the Void King, but I bet she would have helped you.” Chara looked down before saying, “I had my reasons...”

 

Something about Pandora always rubbed me the wrong way. From her forced smiles to her strained enthusiasm, all of her emotions felt like an act. It was like she was specifically created to be happy no matter the circumstances or hardship. To stay smiling even when she should be crying, she did not feel like a real person. Though there was one emotion that could slip past her façade, one feeling that she could not disguise, her loneliness.

 

Whenever I avoided engaging in one of her games, her mood immediately dimmed. From the way she carried herself, I could tell that she had been left alone for most of her life, and her only reprieve was when her parents needed her. In a way, I could relate to her, because before I fell into the Underground, my…caretakers… treated me the exact same way. To them, I was nothing more than a tool for their success and they neglected and abused me when I did not measure up. Pandora felt like a distorted mirror of my younger self, smiling to hide away from the pain.

 

In spite of all of that, I was still terrified of her. I saw her throw around trees, buildings, and boulders simply because she was annoyed. Anything inanimate to her could be subjected to this treatment and unfortunately she saw me as a toy and not as a person. If I were on the receiving end of one of these tantrums, I could end up as nothing more than a stain on the wall, splattered like an insect. To make matters worse, I would not be able to stop her. It would be like an ant standing up to a toddler, no matter how much I would fight, the result would always be the same. So with no other options, I pretended to be bedridden. It was a very cowardly option, but I thought it could buy everyone else time to save me. Unfortunately, it only took a few days for her to catch onto my ruse.

 

As I woke up on the fourth day, I could immediately tell that something was wrong. It felt like a python had slithered its way into my room and was constricting around my stomach and torso. After wiping away the pool of sweat on my forehead, I pulled the covers up and saw zebra striped streamers wrapped around me. As I followed the thread up to its source I saw Pandora hovering above me. “What are you doing…?” I asked with a half-asleep drawl as my mind had not adjusted to being up. Her face immediately shifted into a fake smile as she said. “I’m waking you up silly. I’ve got a fun day planned and I don’t want you to miss any of it.”

 

I rolled back in my bed as she continued, “Look I know you’re not bedridden, so could you please drop the act? I just want to play with you.” Despite her chipper attitude, I could tell that she was secretly dreading that I would say no. While I did not want to show it, I did feel guilty for not hanging out with this little gremlin, she did not deserve to be ignored. So as I raised an eyebrow, I asked her, “Alright, what do you have in mind?” In an instant, she happily clapped her hands together as if she were playing pattycakes with herself. “Oh I have a lot of ideas but umm, maybe we should put you into some new clothes. Those have to be over one hundred years old by now right?” I playfully scoffed at her remark, while my clothes were small on me they still had a lot of sentimental value. So I crossed my arms and said, “My clothes are perfectly acceptable; I do not need to change them.” She immediately started giggling and said, “Are you sure about that? Chara I don’t even think you can breathe in those; it’s probably why you’ve been turning so much in your sleep.”

 

As she said this, I pinched my shirt and noticed that all of its elasticity was gone. Like an old memory wrapping around my body, it might have been comforting but it was still restricting me. “Perhaps you have a point…” I admitted before a dreadful thought dawned in my head. I remembered that she set up an entire wardrobe just for me, that was filled with extremely feminine clothing.

 

They were not simple dresses or skirts, they were over the top ballroom gowns and princess outfit. The clothes felt more like a parody than something I could actually see someone wearing. If I agreed to change out of my clothes, she would undoubtedly force me into one of those dress-up doll abominations. I have always tried to embrace an androgynous appearance, and I was not going to let this or…puberty…hold me back. So as I cleared my throat, I told her, “On the other hand. I have seen that wardrobe and I would rather die than wear one of those dresses.” 

 

Pandora frowned as she asked, “Are you angry with me?” I shook my head and replied, “Not exactly, but I would rather not play dress up.” She rolled her eyes as I said this, with her stubbornness becoming as visible as a glowstick. “Why not? Don’t you think you’d look good in one?” she asked, I shook my head. Perhaps she did not understand the reason behind my apprehension so I clarified, “It does not matter how I would look; I do not want to be forced into them.” She sighed while nervously clutching her right arm, it looked like she had been reconsidering her plan. Unfortunately that thought was instantly disproven as she said, “Well it’s not like you have a choice. Look, I’ll find you something really boring if you really want it, but in the meantime you’re gonna wear one of those dresses.” 

 

I gritted my teeth upon realizing that there was no way out of this. My only option would be to cut the streamers with my makeshift knife, but it wasn’t on me at the time. Besides, I was not even sure if it was strong enough to sever these horrible strings. The only thing I could do was to pretend to be asleep again, one last action of defiance before I was turned into her doll. I snored loudly in her face as a massive grin formed on mine. While I knew this would not fool her, maybe this action could convince her to leave me alone. 

 

Unfortunately, what I was met with was an exasperated huff, before I was shook around like a soda can. My mind spun in circles as my brain clattered against my skull as she yelled, “Get up, Get up, Get up!” I exclaimed, “I-I'm up, I'm up, I’m up,” before hse unceremoniously dropped my back onto the bed. While clutching my head and stomach in pain, I said “Ugh, I really thought that might work,” as Pandora replied, “Well it didn’t.” She then picked me up and effortlessly dragged me towards the wardrobe. As I was moved, I noticed a strange red trumpet on my desk. I knew that it was not there yesterday and when I tried to reach it, Pandora immediately stopped me. She covered my eyes and quickly hid the instrument, while nervously laughing, “How did that get there?” I smirked as soon as I saw through her act, she had something to hide…

 

“So you like playing music,” I said as she replied, “Umm, that’s not an instrument, at least not for playing music.” I tilted my head as I said, “So what is it for?” As Pandora replied, “It’s for decor, it looked pretty right?” I did not believe her response for a moment, but I decided to play along. “So what is it supposed to add to the room?” I asked Pandora as she opened up the closet door. “It umm, improves the balance,” she said before staring in awe at her collection. Her clay-like fingers as she scrolled through they were names on a phonebook.

 

She picked out several outfits and forced me into each of them in front of a large circular mirror. One was a blue princess dress, the second one was a traditional farming dress with cherry blossom dots, and the final one was a punk outfit with an exaggerated crop top, and I hated all of them. As I feared, they were either too showy or too aggressively feminine. I had been forced to wear these types of outfits before I fell into the Underground, and I had promised myself that I would never go back to that. Yet here I was, crossing my arms in a black and red punk outfit, that was clearly designed for someone several years older than me. The fact that it had a golden spiked dog collar just made things even worse.

 

As I tore the terrible accessory off, Pandora asked me, “So which one do you like?” I thought it over, before asking, “Can I just have my old clothes back?” She looked stupefied as I said this, as if she could not comprehend that someone could hate her wardrobe. Pandora then exclaimed, “Oh come on, there’s gotta be one you like, my Dad said you used to love these types of clothes” I rolled my eyes and replied, “No offense, but your father does not know anything about me.”

 

“Heheheh, you’d be surprised,” said Pandora as she picked out a new red dress. She looked like she was about to force this one onto me as well but stopped herself. Maybe she noticed how freaked out I was, or maybe she finally understood my barriers. Either way, she threw me into the changing room and placed the dress right beside me. “Please give this one a chance, I actually sewed it myself” said Pandora as she slammed the door in front of me. Knowing that I had no other option, I begrudgingly threw it on and walked out of the room. Pandora happily bopped up in the air as she exclaimed, “See I knew you’d look great in that outfit. Oh my god you’ve gotta see yourself in the mirror.” She rolled over a large circular mirror right in front of me and stood still as I examined my new dress.

 

It had a heart shaped marigold bodice, and a similarly colored flower-like skirt, Underneath the bodice was a long burgundy colored shirt that had long flared out sleeves that obscured my hands. The only thing I was missing was a tiara to look like a princess from a stock fairytale. “So what do you think?” she asked in anticipation, “It’s good right?” I hesitated because while it was not something I felt comfortable wearing, I could not deny its craftsmanship. She had clearly spent a lot of time working on this outfit, and I really did not want to hurt her feelings. “I-I do not know, it is really well made but it is still too feminine for me.” Curiously, Pandora tilted her head and asked me, “Is that a bad thing?” I replied, “Not at all, they just are not for me, but if it makes you feel better I will wear it for the time being.” Her face lit up as she pumped her fists up in the air, before grabbing my hand and shaking me like a ragdoll. “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you,” said Pandora before dragging me into the living room.

 

I could feel the circulation in my arms fade as the streamers tightened around them. I tried biting, pulling and even cutting the strings, but nothing seemed to work. As I did this, my captor paused and looked directly at me, cocking her head like a curious bird. She covered her mouth before laughing at my pitiful attempts to free myself. “Pfffttthahaha, I’m sorry, very very sorry, but why are you trying to escape?” asked Pandora, “You can’t do anything with an LV that low.” My face paled as she said those words, how did this kid know about Levels of Violence? I exclaimed, “Wait, did you just say LV?” as the golem nodded repeatedly. “Of course I do, my parents explained Levels of Victory and Experience points to me a few years ago. You know, for someone so numbers obsessed, I thought that yours would have been higher than level one.” 

 

She then plopped me down on a buttercup-colored couch and flew into another room. The couch was covered in holes that exposed its cotton and spring interior, and small duct tape patches that crudely covered a fraction of the damage. It felt about as comfortable as sitting on a bed filled with old rusty springs. The only real upside was that I was no longer being carried around like a toy, but honestly that was not much of an improvement. I stared at my swollen arm and thought back to the words Pandora told me. Never in a million years would I have guessed that someone as innocent as would know about LV. Had she killed someone in the past? Does she know any killers? Does LV work differently here than in my home universe? All of these questions danced in my mind before Pandora dumped a small collection of children’s books in front of me. 

 

A cloud of dust erupted from the pile of books that fell onto the table. I had to shield my eyes and mouth as it filled the room like a sepia mist. As the smoke cleared, I wiped away the dust on the stories and was taken aback by how odd this selection was. It had familiar stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and Pinocchio intermixed with an extremely unfamiliar one. It was known as The Legend of El Silbon, and with a cover that featured a shrink-wrapped man carrying a bag of bones on his back, I was immediately hooked. Still I wondered why this was placed alongside fairy tales and parables, was this story more kid friendly than I thought? 

 

Pandora shuddered as I opened up the unfamiliar book and immediately skimmed through it. My suspicions were instantly dashed as soon as I read the first page. The legend told the story of a spoiled brat who murdered his father for failing to catch him a deer and attempted to trick his mother into cooking his old man’s liver as a substitute. For this crime, he tied to a tree and whipped until his back was raw, before being chased down and mauled him to death by his grandfather’s hunting dogs. Unfortunately, this action led to the creation of El Silbon, a terrifying bone stealing ghost that carried his collection on his back. It’s said that if you hear his haunting whistle, you only have moments to live. Now I was aware of messed up fairy tales, but not even they were this intense. Why did someone as young as Pandora even have access to such a morbid story? A small smile creeped up on my face as I thought, ‘Maybe her parents had some redeeming traits after all.”

 

“So why did you bring all of these old books out?” I asked Pandora as she replied, “Well I wanted you to read me a story.” With a smirk on my face, I pulled El Silbon and said, “Is that so?” She quickly smacked it out of my hand and gave me an apologetic smile as sweat dripped down her forehead. Pandora said, Please, don’t choose that one. It always, ALWAYS gives me nightmares.” While raising an eyebrow, I asked, “Really, so why was it in the collection?”

 

Pandora scrambled around as she said, “I-um didn’t put it in myself; my mom was the one who selected these books. She said they were supposed to teach kids to honor their family and be obedient. According to her you could learn a lot from them.” I crossed my arms before ashamedly looking at the wall. Maybe this Void Queen had a point, after all it was my plan that tore my beloved family apart. On the other hand, this whole thing felt like a ploy to brainwash me, as I remembered what the Void King called me on my first night. He called me a weapon, nothing more and nothing less. If this was their plan to manipulate me, it had already failed.

 

As my mind was wrapped in thought, Pandora continued, “Also since your LV is so low, maybe you’ll get something out of it.” I looked at her as if she were a Picasso painting while holding my mouth shut. My hand was the door preventing a torrent of hyena-like laughter from escaping my mouth. I could not believe that she was still going on about her misconceptions on LV, just how naive was she? The kid placed a copy of Little Red Riding hood in my hands and said, “I think this one’s the best, plus it's covered in dust you’ll get a ton of exp from it.” 

 

That was the final straw that broke down the doors as I unleashed a deluge of laughter. “Y-you cannot be seriou-hehe-s,” I said, “I will not get stronger from reading this.” Pandora blurted out, “Come on Chara, just give it I try?” as I rolled my eyes as I nonchalantly picked up the familiar fairytale. Each page was covered in a thin layer of dust that I quickly brushed aside like an old fossil. Pandora scooched next to me as I began to read the story, her claylike body stuck to my dress and the surrounding couch like glue. It was not a good feeling, but at least she seemed invested in the story, which I could hardly say for myself. Because as soon as I got to the first page, I noticed that Pandora’s parents had made several plot breaking, “improvements.” 

 

These changes included: making the grandmother diabetic, explaining that Little Red was delivering her sugar cookies, and showing that it was all her parents' idea. When she protested giving her grandmother food with so much glucose in it, her parents scolded her. They claimed that if she questioned them, then the big bad wolf would devour her for her hubris. Little Red stuck her tongue out at her mother before limping out of the shack with a broken knee, which was probably caused by the mother kicking her with her wooden shoes.

 

Because of her injury, she was easily hunted down and killed by the wolf. He carried her partially consumed body to her house and scoured around the property to finish the job. They screamed as they saw their child’s body in the beast’s jaws before he placed her at their door. He claimed that if they hadn’t forced her to walk alone into the forest with an injured knee, then she would still be alive. In a baffling turn of events, the parents pulled out AK-47s and shot the big bad wolf to death. His snow-white fur was dotted with red gunshot wounds as he collapsed to the floor. The parents chastised him, not for killing their kid but for blaming them for her death. 

 

As soon as I got to this section, I slammed the book shut in disgust. Not only was the intended moral disgusting, but there was something about the story that creeped me out. From the way the wolf carried Little Red to her home, and his death by gunshot wounds, it all felt like a twisted distortion my brother’s untimely demise. It could have been a coincidence; it had to be a coincidence. My biological parents supposedly scrubbed that footage from the internet, so how could they have known about this? Just who were these people?

 

Before I could form a theory, my captor aggressively nudged my shoulder. “Hey, you didn’t finish the story,” said Pandora while dramatically pouting at me. Her adorable little face was scrunched up like an angry blueberry in a feeble attempt to intimidate me. While leaning back I said, “I was not a fan of the changes, they felt too ridiculous,” Her horn-like locks drooped down like dog ears as she said, “Aww, you didn’t like it.” Before she could dejectedly float away, I asked her one simple question. “Pandora, I have been meaning to ask, who are your parents?”

 

She went completely still before throwing me into another activity. From Tea parties, to dancing lessons, any time I would have questions she would interrupt me with something new. Admittedly I am still annoyed that I was not able to read all of those books, as I wanted to see if they also possessed those horrible change. Even if they had been horrible, it would have been better than leaving them unread. Regardless, I still tried asking the kid about her family even if it all fell on deaf ears. Unfortunately, it seemed like my questions were slowly getting on her nerves as she called me, “Grumpy, irritable, and difficult,” under her breath. I knew I was walking on eggshells around her, one wrong move could be my end. Though I needed to press forward, I needed answers, and I did not care if it would kill me.

 

This all came to a head during the afternoon. She gave me a large wooden bat and told me to play a game where we were tasked with destroying sandbags with faces of monsters on them. Whoever got the most kills would be declared the victor. The entire idea was ridiculous as I had a better chance of defeating Mike Tyson in his prime than winning against her. I knew there was no chance in hell that I could ever be a match for her. Regardless, I still wanted to play the game because even if the idea was morbid, maybe it could be fun. Perhaps I would be smacking down boar tusked mushrooms or robotic ladybugs. I told myself this as I readied to hit the first sandbag, before stopping myself as soon I got a good look at it. 

 

The sandbag had a face that perfectly resembled my brother, and others looked like Sans, Froggits, Papyrus, Toriel, and Muffet for some reason. I looked over at Pandora and saw her popping a Sans bag like it was a well-fed tick. Its white sand innards coated her hands before she twisted her head 180 degrees. I immediately dropped my bat and dashed underneath the cover of a tree. I began to hyperventilate as Pandora slowly drifted to my side. “Come on Chara, they’re just sandbags, why do you look so upset?” As my hands began to shake I yelled, “Why? WHY! They look just like my friends and family. Why would you ever think I would strike them down?” The child quietly mumbled under breath, “Because the other Chara’s wouldn’t hesitate…”. 

 

“O-other Chara’s?” I said to myself, “You mean I am not the only one?” Pandora replied, “Of course, what do you think you’re the only version of yourself throughout the multiverse?” With labored breaths I asked, “Are any of them here?” as Pandora shook her head. “You are the only Chara I’ve ever met.” In spite of my confusion, I quickly crossed my arms and said, “Well I do not know what happened to those,  ‘other Charas’ but I am not like them. I will not destroy the effigies of my family.” Pandora audibly scoffed before saying, “Chara they aren’t your family, you’re a human not a monster.” As my hands bawled into fists I yelled, “I would rather be a monster than be associated with my horrible excuses for birth parents!” 

 

The kid stood in stunned silence, with her head quickly swiveling from left to right. She said, “Well then I guess you must be the exception, because my parents aren’t like that.” I bit my lips as I asked her, “Pandora, has your father put his hands on you?” Her face paled as she said, “Look he has anger issues, but he isn’t always like that. He sometimes gets me really cool stuff. So if he needs to use me as a punching bag then I’m fine with that.”  I studied Pandora with a pained look in my eyes as this kid was excusing her own abuse. As Pandora sulked down I said,“You don’t actually think that do you?” The child rolled her head and claimed, “You know I’ve been trying to do fun activities with you all day, but you’ve been such a sourpuss.” My voice was as sharp as a knife as I said, “Pandora, you’re dodging the question.”

 

Without thinking. Pandora replied by grabbing me with her streamers. “What are you doin-” I said  before being flung several hundred feet into the air. The rushing wind whipped past my hair as I got closer and closer to the barrier's ceiling. “Nonononono, this cannot be happening” I told myself as I imagined the consequences of colliding with that wall. If I did not act, I would be splattered like an insect on a windshield, not even recognizable as a person. I turned away from the wall and braced for impact, hoping that this small action could save my life.

 

CRUNCH

 

All I felt was pain. My spine felt like it had been shattered like a glass vase, my organs felt like they had jumped into my back, and my limbs could not stop twitching. It was a miracle that I was still alive, but I knew that I was on borrowed time. I could barely maintain consciousness as I felt my body getting weaker and weaker, it would not be long now. With only one motion, I thought my second chance at life had already come to a gruesome end. Though before that could happen, I saw Pandora fly up to my location. She covered her mouth in horror before peeling me off of the wall. “I can fix this, I can fix this, I can fix this,” she said to herself as she flew around the island in a desperate attempt to save my life. The last thing I saw was a familiar steel coffin as my consciousness slowly slipped away.

 

“Am I dead again?” I thought to myself as the last words my parents told me echoed in my mind. If this had happened in my first life I would have accepted it. I did not think I had the right to exist before I met my real family, and yet I still gave it all up in a stupid plan to free my people, but now things were different. I knew that I could not rest, not when I had a job to do, not when the entire universe was on the line. If I let myself return to death, I would be condemning everyone else to erasure by Skollhati’s hands. She said that you needed to find me before she would consider sparing our world, I doubt that would work if I was still a corpse. 

 

Besides, there was another reason why I held on, my real family deserves closure. I left their lives by poisoning myself with buttercup flowers and only Asriel knew why I did it. Through my death, I left a gaping desolate hole in their hearts and had to drag my adoptive brother down with me. Even if I do not expect to be forgiven, especially after this fiasco with Skollhati, It’s the least I could do for them. I might as well try to repay them after I messed up their lives…

 

“Well I forgive you,” said Flowey, “You were far, far from a perfect person, but I can’t say that I’m any better.” Chara’s breathing became heavy before switching into a weak remorseful laugh. “Do not say things like that Asriel, you did not mess up as bad as me.” The Flower looked off to the side before saying, “Oh you would be surprised.” Chara scoffed as they said, “Maybe, but unlike you I was not able to reset my mistakes, as far the world knows your hands are mostly clean.” Flowey replied, “Hey I absorbed nearly every soul in the Underground,” as Chara clarified, “Mostly clean.” 

 

Frisk rolled their eyes at the conversation, while they were happy that the two siblings were apologizing to each other they weren’t a fan of this self-pity party. It felt like the two of them were in a competition trying to convince the other that they were the worse person. Ultimately they replied, “I’m glad that you two are making up to each other, but you don’t need through yourselves under the bus.” Chara replied, “Why not? It’s the least I deserve.” Frisk exclaimed, “Look I know you feel that way now, but that’s not how I see it. You’ve both been given a second chance at life, you now have time to fix your mistakes and become better people.”

 

Flowey rolled his eyes while Chara looked down to the floor. As they did so, Frisk asked Chara, “Speaking of second chances, “how are you still alive? You said that you hit the barrier hard enough to shatter your bones and organs so how are you still here?” Chara thought this over, their mind questioning whether they should tell Frisk the truth or to prank them with an absurd lie. While pretending to be a ghost was an enticing idea for a prank, Chara ultimately thought that their partner deserved the truth. 

 

Well it was all due to that steel coffin. It rearranged my bones and organs back into their original positions. Anything that was missing was filled in with a lime green foam that quickly transmuted into what was lost. It was so seamless that it looked like I had never suffered those injuries in the first place. You could not have imagined my shock when I woke up and discovered this process. Sure my back might have been a little dry from the day-old blood that encrusted the bottom of the tomb, but it was better than the alternative. I would rather not have to spend the rest of my life with a shattered spine and scapulas. Despite that, I felt a sinking feeling form in my stomach, it was too dangerous to stay here. If my captor could nearly kill me by accident, what could she do when she was really angry? So I quickly tore the wires out of my arms and back and immediately tried to climb out of bed. Though before I could get any further, a long streamer grabbed my arm.

 

I looked up in horror as I saw Pandora looking down on me. Her face was concealed by shadows and the only light that I could see was her glowing white hair. “Y-you're actually up… are you okay…?” said Pandora with a panicked look in her eyes. I gave her a venomous glare as she continued, “Look I'm sorry for what happened, but I didn’t like how you were talking about my mom and dad…” She trailed off as I thought, “So that was her game.” She wanted to apologize to me but still wanted to act like she was in the right, not on my watch. So with my voice quivering I said, “You still tried to kill me,” before Pandora exclaimed, “It was an accident, I didn’t mean to throw you so hard, I just-” Only for me to scream “Pandora stop making excuses for yourself, I nearly died.”

 

As I said that she sank to the ground and started shaking. I felt the temperature in the room start to drop as I started to fear the worst. Would she attack me again? Did I set her off? Would I be back in that machine again? I was like a tightrope walker; one misstep and I could fall to my doom. So I hesitantly continued, “Pandora, aside from my brother and Skollhati you are the strongest people I have ever met, but you need to learn how to control yourself. You are living in a world of glass, and any wrong move could shatter someone into a million pieces. Even if I have only known you for a few days, I know you do not want that.” Pandora solemnly nodded her head in agreement before meekly replying, “I won’t, I'll be better."

 

My heart sank as the gravity of the situation finally dawned on me. Pandora was not going to attack me; she was scared of me. Despite the massive gap in our abilities, she was still a child, and I was still a teenager. Even if she made a horrible, horrible mistake, I should have dealt with this more delicately. At the very least she did bring me into the machine and revived me, that’s probably better than what her parents would have done. So I sighed and said, “No, we both need to be better.” 

 

There was a long silence before I asked, “Wwere you trying to do to me yesterday?” Pandora hovered over to me and said, “I was just trying to play with you…” I looked at her sympathetically before I said, “I wish I could believe you, but those activities were too targeted to be a coincidence.” She apprehensively asked, “What do you mean?” as I replied, “The Dress, the story, heck even the game, all of it seemed like you trying to force something onto me. I remember what your father said while I tried to hide in my bed. He said that he wanted you to turn me into a weapon, but is that where it ends? Pandora, were you trying to change me into something I am not?”

 

 I looked at the repaired remains of my dress in silence before Pandora put a hand on my shoulder. Despite trying to forgive her, I still flinched in fear as she touched me. She backed away before saying, “I don’t want to change you, but they do.” That was not a huge surprise to me, but I still felt my stomach churn as I thought about the implications. These people clearly know a lot more about me than I wish they did, and if these dresses were any indicator then... I waved away the fear for my own sake, it did not matter if they were trying to force that label back onto me, I would not let them. So I then said to Pandora, “Then please, tell them to stop,” before she replied, “I can’t.” While rolling my eyes I said, “I am aware they are your parents but-” Before she exclaimed, “No Chara, I can’t.”

 

Everything shifted around the room as Pandora explained, “They put something into my programming, I have to follow all of their commands no matter what…I have absolutely no say in the matter. They could tell me to break your arms and I wouldn't be able to stop myself.” I walked back in horror as I said, “So when he told you to lower your defenses, was that-“ She nodded her head as I stumbled back into the coffin. These people gave her a twisted version of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics.. Even if she were stronger physically, it would not matter overall. Because despite her incredible power, she was mentally as fragile as a butterfly.

 

“Are they stronger than you?” I asked before Pandora shook her head. “No, I’m a lot stronger than them,” said Pandora, “But that wouldn’t matter, I can’t even fight them.” I looked off to the side before claiming, “Well we do not have to fight them, we only need to get past them.” Without another word I tore out the remaining wires and walked away from Pandora. “What are you doing?” she asked before I replied, “I’m finding a way out for both of us.” The golem immediately pleaded with me and said, “Chara, I’m the only one who can get out of here, and if I want to let you out, I couldn’t.” I looked at my right hand before clenching it into a fist. With determination burning in my eyes I declared, “Then I will find my own way out.”

 

For the next few days, I tried to find multiple escape routes out of the island, though all of them proved fruitless. Digging would just bring me to the bottom of this caged sea, none of the books gave me any hints, and Pandora only tried to talk me out of it. She seemed more somber, more careful than before, she treated me like I was a fragile little fish. It was an improvement from being treated like her toy, but I almost felt bad for her. Most of her enthusiasm had evaporated after the incident, especially when it came to me. 

 

I needed to push those thoughts to the back of my mind. I could not distract myself with guilt, I needed to find a way out of here. So when Pandora was not looking I collected pieces of wood from right under her nonexistent nose. It took me a few days to complete, but after putting the elbow grease in, I finally completed a makeshift raft. It was wobbly and barely looked like it could sustain my weight, but it was better than nothing. “It's finally time,” I told myself as I pushed it onto the water and began rowing. The cool white glow of artificial moonlight sparkled on the water with every stroke of their oar, it would be beautiful if it were not for the circumstances. Regrettably, I felt water begin to sneak past the cracks of the raft onto my legs, but I did not care. There was a lot that I needed to do, and I could not accomplish any of it if I stayed here for the rest of my life. As I rowed I told myself that I was not a pet, I was not a weapon, and I certainly was not their princess in a tower. I was the master of my own destiny, and I was going to prove it.

 

 As got closer to the barrier, I noticed large translucent spokes encompassing the sphere. They surrounded the entire structure like the bar of a birdcage, as if I needed another reminder of my imprisonment. Mortifyingly, I also saw a faint red stain near one of those spokes, which must have been the place where I collided with the wall. I cringed at thought before I reached the edge of the barrier. It had a faint green glow and emitted a slow monotonous hum, barely audible to a person. Despite its near transparency, I could barely see the other side of the wall, the only thing I noticed was a large furry object directly on the other side. What was this large clump of hair doing near the entrance of the barrier I thought to myself, it certainly did not look clean. The only thing I could smell was seawater because I bet if I smelled that then I would have hurled on the spot.

 

While trying to ignore it, I regained my footing and put my hand on the barrier. With my balance secure, I took a deep breath before punching it. Green shockwaves jettisoned out from every impact, rippling out across the entire barrier. Despite that it did no damage, even though I tried attacking it from all angles and even headbutted it at a few points nothing changed. By the end of my barrage I knew that my punches were pointless, but I still persisted. After all, I needed to take my frustration out on something, right?

 

As I fell back on their raft and felt the freezing water on my bottom. I quietly mumbled to myself, “Why does this always happen to me?” I thought back to their encounter with Skollhati, the only reason she even took me was because they pressed that dumb button. If I had just listened to my subconscious maybe I would not be in this situation. I screamed out in anger while hitting myself on the head. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, Why did I trust that stupid thing?”, I said before tears started to streak across my face. I then laughed in pain before saying. “I know where I am now, This is not the void, its hell, Hahahaha I might have escaped its grasp for one hundred years, but I guess my actions caught up with me, it is what I deserve after all.” With thunder in my lungs I proclaimed the world, “Here stands Chara, the master of failure! It's the only thing I am good at…”

 

“...perhaps that's true, but you could still be quite useful to me...” said an unknown voice coming above me. I slowly craned my neck up and gulped as I saw a large stork-like beast staring down at me. That flipping pile of hair had revealed itself to be a prehistoric demon. As I stumbled back in shock, I picked up my oar in a desperate attempt to defend myself. The beast only laughed, “…Do you honestly think that oar would protect you? Beginner's mistake...” I trembled before asking, “What do you want with me?” as the creature said, “…Simple I want to set you free...”

 

Instinctively, I could tell that he was lying, his dripping maw evidence enough of that. Still I wanted to play along, maybe he knew something I did not. Perhaps his words could help me a hint, or maybe he was just a hungry animal waiting to pluck me out like I was a fish in a bowl. Either way, I needed to figure out what he was planning. So as I raised an eyebrow, I asked him, “So what’s your idea?” 

 

The beast gleefully explained that “…Well you see Pandora likes to sneak me piles of fruits during Monday mornings. If you hide in there I can pick you up and sneak you out of here...” I started chuckling as the beast claimed, “Come on, it’s a foolproof plan, trust me…” Before I said, “Do you really think I am that much of an idiot?” The beast looked off to the side as I continued, “You’re clearly trying to devour me and yet you have the gall to pretend that you are helping. Why did you ever think I would ever fall for that?” The beast grimaced before saying, “…Ugh, you’re smarter than you look, Gumdrop, but that’s not going to save you… Sooner or later you’ll end up right where you belong, as a friend inside me…”

 

I replied, “Oh really? because Pandora told me she cannot let me out. So unless you know how to break this barrier, I am afraid you are going to have to move on,  I am not on the menu.” The pterosaur sighed as he said, “…Point taken, in there you are completely safe, completely trapped, HAW HAW HAW your efforts were for nothing...” As he sat down and I said, “Maybe you have a point, I do not know a single way to get out of here, but I have hope. I know that my friend Frisk is probably looking into this world and is going to find a way to break me out.” Ropen then maniacally laughed, “Oh please If they are anything like you, then they don’t have a chance in hell.” 

 

I then bit back, “Frisk saved the entire Underground, this barrier is nothing to them.” The pterosaur cackled, “…So they have a hero complex, hmm… How tragically naive, being a hero is the quickest way to end up in the grave. The true path to success is the way of the coward.” While touching my temple I sighed, “You are completely insufferable.” Before Ropen replied, “Almost as insufferable as seeing a tasty little morsel on the other side of a screen. Mocking you with its continued existence, while you starve in silence. Why if this barrier weren’t here then I would-” before a familiar face zipped in front of him.

 

“...O-oh Pandora, I didn’t know you were up. How has my favorite surrogate niece been doing?” I repeated those words in my head, “surrogate niece????”, how does this thing consider her family? She yawned before saying, “Not well, I almost killed a friend a few days ago and I’ve felt really bad abo-about…Chara what are you doing here?!” The golem looked directly at me before Ropen exclaimed, “YOU NAMED IT?!” I replied, “No that is my na-” Only to be interrupted as Ropen honked out, “You’re not supposed to name it. If you name it, you become attached to it, and if you become attached to it then you no longer want to kill it. It’s one of the most basic rules of the jungle, how could you possibly forget that?” 

 

Pandora meekly replied, “That doesn’t apply to me; besides I really don’t want to kill them.” Ropen nodded before he claimed, “…Look I know you haven't interacted with a lot of kids your age, but come on. Look at you, you're the most powerful little kid in the land. You can do so much better than this walking appetizer.”  

 

Pandora stood still for a moment before replying, “Chara isn’t a meal, and you should know that” She wrapped me up with her streamers as Ropen yelled, “I know what your parents are planning to do with them. You might not like my plan, but it's infinitely a lot more ethical than theirs. After all, at least they’ll still be themselves by the end of it.” The golem looked sadly at the pterosaur before flying away. 

 

“Do you know him?” I asked as Pandora replied, “Of course I know him, he’s Ropen, he’s one of my best caretakers.” I stammered out, “Th-that guy is a caretaker?! Why would your parents put you in the same room as him?” She replied, “Well he doesn’t attack me because I’m on his exceptions list, plus, I also remind him of his kids. Well when they were younger, but the point still remains. My Dad was originally going to make him your caretaker, but me and mom talked him out of it.” I shivered at the thought as Pandora flew close to one of the towers. She absentmindedly remarked, “He wasn't always like this, I shouldn’t have told him the power of a human soul maybe he wouldn’t…”

 

Before I could ask questions, she placed me on the balcony and said, “Look, I know you want to escape, but that’s not happening. I don’t want you to endanger yourself, so I’m locking you in here for twenty four hours.” I said, “You cannot be serious,” as Pandora replied, I am extremely super serious. Until tomorrow, you’ll be stuck in this tower.” She sealed the doors and windows shut and let me rot in my cell. Even though I objected to this, she did not seem to care and flew away before I could reply.

 

As Pandora left, I immediately assessed my options for escape. The door to the rest of the tower was locked shut, and the windows were sealed with cold metal bars. Also even if I did break through them, it would still be a several story drop onto the ground. As fun as I thought it would be to scale down a tower, I ultimately chose the more sensible option. I grabbed my knife and slowly whittled down on one of the bars. It was like cutting through the hull of a tree like a butter knife, but I still persisted. It took the whole night, I even took a brief nap in the middle of it, but I eventually broke through the bar. I then used it to smash through the lock, and I ran down the harrowing flights of stairs. 

 

The hall was only lit up by synthetic candles that gave off no heat. Cold concrete that resembled cobblestone encrusted the walls and stairs as I dashed down the stairs. Unfortunately, I forgot that I was wearing a skirt and accidentally stepped onto it. I then tumbled down several flights before collapsing at the bottom of the tower. I laid there unconscious for several hours before I slowly stumbled out of the tower and heard fighting in the distance. After shaking off my fall, I ran over to the shoreline and watched as my captor battled against two mysterious figures. One was taller and had a long ponytail, and the other was shorter and seemed like they were trying to talk to the golem. “Was this a rescue party?” I thought to myself, “Why are there only two of them?” Despite my original intentions to stay hidden, I feverishly searched around for their raft, hoping that Pandora hadn’t destroyed it. 

 

My search eventually took me to the peak of a tree, where the raft was placed at the top like a tortilla chip in guacamole. “This kid…” I said through gritted teeth as I began to climb up the trunk. Like a young black bear I scaled the tree with impressive speed. Well impressive speed for someone wearing a skirt that constantly got caught by the branches, but I will take any victories I can get. Against all odds I was able to dislodge the raft from the canopy and carried it to the beach. I threw it onto the water and paddled like the world depended on me, hopefully these invaders could actually free me.

 

As I rowed forward, the water became rougher as Pandora showcased more and more of her strength. From zipping around both of her opponents, to casually picking up an entire island, she seemed invincible. “Just how powerful is this kid?” I thought as the golem casually dropped the island off to her side. A massive wave soon crashed over me as I started to regret not staying back on the island. Despite being smacked around by the wave, I soon surfaced and got back on the raft. I might have been drenched, but that wasn’t going to stop me, not now and not ever. To Pandora this was nothing but a game, but to me this was a battle of life or death.   

 

As I finally reached the edge, I stared on in horror, I was too late. Pandora had both Sans and Undyne wrapped around her streamers, they were both unconscious. She noticed me instantly and immediately flew over to me. “I can’t believe you got out of that tower,” said Pandora, “I thought you’d be stuck there for the entire day. You are full of surprises.” While she tried to ease the mood, I could not help but stare in terror, worried about what she would do to me. 

 

“Oh you should have seen these two,” said Pandora, “Playing with them was the most fun I ever had. This fish lady even won her spear throwing game against me, isn’t that something?” I replied, “P-Please, do not kill them,” as the golem floated over to me and tilted her head. “Why would I do that,” she said, “I don’t want to be a killer, that's your job. Though they have something that I think you’ll want. She zipped me over to the shoreline and gave me Undyne’s phone, “Here in case you ever feel lonely, call someone. I would use it myself, but my parents think I’m too young.” And with that, she finally zipped off, and that’s where our story ends.

 

Chara took a deep breath as they finally steadied themselves. It had been a long week, and they didn’t want to skip out on any of it. What they weren’t expecting was Frisk to immediately ask them, “Wait, did Pandora take Sans’s phone?” They put their thumb on their chin as they thought back to the previous day. It was logical that both Sans and Undyne had phones on them, and yet Pandora didn’t take Sans’s. Even if she wanted it for herself, Chara knew that Pandora’s programming would stop her in her tracks. She couldn’t refuse a direct order from her parents. 

 

With that in mind, Chara admitted, “No I do not think they did,” Before they noticed that Frisk was quietly snickering to themselves. The realization dawned on Chara’s face as they said, “Wait Frisk, do not cal-” before Frisk dialed up their roomies phone number. “This is not going to work,” said Chara before Frisk replied, “Oh come on Chara, stranger things have happened. Plus I’m adding you to the call, so it’s not like we’re saying goodbye.” Chara rolled their eyes and crossed their arms; this whole thing felt like a long shot. Even if Sans hadn’t gotten his phone taken by the guards, who’s to say that they would even have cell service? As they thought this over they noticed that Frisk was quietly praying to themselves. Their prayers were answered as soon as the skeleton answered, “is that actually you?”  and he was quite rattled that Frisk was even able to call his number, let alone the reveal that they had fallen down here as well.

 

“so despite what i told you, you just couldn’t stay still,” said Sans, “heh i can respect that.” Undyne pipped up, “Hey I told you that keeping them out of the action was a mistake and now they’re lost in dino land.” Sans shrugged as he claimed, “welp it probably wouldn’t have helped if they came with us, if anything we would be hand delivering the second half of the void tyrants plan.” Chara interjected, “I still do not get why you did not get reinforcements, especially you sans. I mean they literally had a device that could counteract your shortcuts.” The skeleton admitted that “welp i didn’t expect to fight pandora, i just wanted to find your island and skedaddle as soon as possible. unfortunately it didn’t work that way and now I have these handcuffs that are preventing me from doing any magic.” 

 

Frisk looked down as they said, “I guess we all screwed up,” as the five of them all agreed. Undyne then said, “Hey don’t beat yourself up over it, I mean it took me a year to apologize for chasing you around Waterfall.” Frisk gave her the stink eye as Undyne yelled, “Hey I did apologize. Regardless we’re all going to get out of this together, we aren’t to let some wolf, and her tyrannical acolytes destroy our happy endings.” She showed off her wedding ring for emphasis before saying, “So Frisk, Chara, and yes even you Flowey don’t give up hope, because we aren’t giving up on you.”

 

As she said this the doors swung out from behind her as two figures exited out of the light. One was a tall, cloaked man, with a white and brown beard. He carried himself with an unnerving and condescending ego, hunching over like a bird of prey. By contrast, his companion was far more refined. She stood upright, her arms were fixed in place like action figures, and she made no sudden movements. All of that made her appearance all the more startling. The woman’s skin was as pale as snow, it felt like it would erupt into flames if it were ever graced by sunlight. Each of her arms had red spiraling dragon tattoos that looked like they were inked in blood. Outside of her arms, everything else about her body was covered up. Even her navy-blue ballroom dress reached her shoes. She also wore long blue gloves and even silver bone-like pauldrons, though her most striking feature was her mask.

 

It resembled a large featureless face, but it had a large black and blue evil eye painted in the middle. The top of this mask had large branch-like horns that erupted out like spikes on a crown. This mask was attached to her face by a long interconnecting mesh of rope and rubies. It was extremely well fastened to her face and looked like it would be extremely painful to take off. Made even worse by her long tentacle-like raven colored hair getting in the way. Even though Frisk and Chara had only seen her partner before, it didn’t take them long to figure out who this woman was, The Void Queen. 

 

“undyne shut off the phone,” said Sans as the two void tyrants walked towards their cell. The queen’s heels clicked like the arms of a clock, with every step, the monsters could feel their end approaching. Undyne instinctively hid the phone away as the King remarked, “So honey, which one do you want to keep?” The Queen tilted her head, carefully observing her two prisoners for weaknesses and strengths.

 

            Before she could respond the King said, “Now if you ask me personally,  I’d go with the fish lady. She isn’t a repeat like Mr.Bonely over here.” The masked woman glared at her husband and said, “Are you serious? that skeleton has the ability to teleport any location he’s ever seen before, he’s far more useful.” The Void King sighed, “Yeah but Sans’ are dime a dozen, hell we still have ten of them kicking around.” His partner remarked, “Well we used to have one hundred, but…” as the Void King claimed, “Hey, for your information those Sans staged a mutiny, I had to set an example.” 

 

The Void Queen chuckled while pinching her partner’s cheeks. She said, “You’re so cute when you’re angry,” as the King laughed, “Cute? Bitch please, I'm adorable.” They both shared a maniacal hearty laugh with each other before turning their attention back to their captives. The Queen sighed, “It seems like we’re at an impasse, we both disagree on who to spare and who to kill. If only there was an AUDIENCE to help us.” A long pink string erupted from her hands and caught the phone that was being held by Undyne. She tried to get it back, but the Queen simply electrocuted her with her handcuffs. “Ah smoked salmon,” remarked the Void Queen before she turned her attention to Frisk and Chara. “Now I normally wouldn’t let children decide the fate of our prisoners, but you two are an exception,” said the Queen, “So tell me, who will live and who will die?”

 

“Frisk turn off your phone,” said Chara as they pushed the power button several times. “I’m trying but nothing’s working,” said Frisk, “It won’t turn off.” The Void Queen cackled like a witch before saying, “Did you honestly think I’d let you two back out of this? No, even your technology knows its place.” Her eyes glowed bright pink as she asked, “So tell me who it will be? Sans the Skeleton, or Undyne the Undine, the choice is yours.” Frisk and Chara started to stammer as the Queen said, “Come on, if you wait any longer I’ll just kill both of them~” The Void King pretended to slit his throat with his fingers to emphasize this predicament. While Chara’s voice quaked as they tried to speak, Frisk blurted out, “Spare both of them!”

 

Everyone on the call’s blood froze as Frisk gave that answer. Sans and Undyne gave each other worried looks, was this even a choice? “Is that choice?” The Void Queen asked mockingly as Frisk nodded their head. “We have the last say, isn’t that right Chara?” said Frisk as their partner responded in kind. The Void Queen laughed as she said, “Such conviction, I have only seen this level of determination once before.” She glared at one of them before saying, “Either way, you two are in luck, that was an option.” The bars opened as Undyne and Sans hesitantly walked forward.

 

“So you’re actually freeing us?” asked Undyne before two long pink strings wrapped around them. “What are you doing?” yelled Frisk as the Queen said, “I’m giving you what you want. Ugh, children are always so bratty, you do exactly what they say and they still whine about it.” Chara interjected, “Hey, me and Frisk said that we wanted you to spare Sans and Undyne no-” as the Void Queen snarled back, “HOLD YOUR TONGUE WORM!!!” Their confidence immediately shattered as the Void Queen explained, “I only said I wouldn’t kill them, and I won’t. Unfortunately for these two, there are many fates worse than death…” Sans asked, “what are you going to do?” as the Queen said, “Well, why would I ruin the surprise.” The Room crackled around her as the Void Queen said, “All you need to know is that by the time I’m done with you two, you’ll both be powerful, loyal, in the end you will both be…”

 

“PERFECT!!!!!”

Chapter 12: Survival Lessons

“They will be Perfect!!!”

Those were the last words The Void Queen said before taking away their friends. It thrashed around in Frisk's mind like a furious worm, any time they tried to shut their eyes their mind always went back to it. A near constant reminder of how their attempt to save Sans and Undyne blew up in their face. The Void Queen used their own defiance against them, and now both of them were going to pay the price. What sort of horrible fate did she have in mind for them? Torture, brainwashing? Some horrible combination between the two of them? Either way, the fact that they were partially responsible made them feel even worse. 

What would they even tell their friends’ loved ones, what would Alphys think of them? What would Papyrus think of them? It didn’t matter that they tried to save them, because at the end of the day they still chose their fate. As these dark thoughts and worries overtook their mind, they saw a bright light peak out from the bottom of the tent. 

“Morning, it just had to be morning,” thought Frisk as they scrunched their eyes in frustration. They were so overwhelmed by what happened yesterday that they had barely gotten any rest. It felt like they had only slept for an hour or two at max, hardly enough to function for the day. Hoping to correct their mistake, they closed their eyes and tried to block out any negative thoughts. They told themselves that it would all be good, that they would escape this refugium and save Chara, Sans, and Undyne. Unfortunately, this only gave them an extra few hours as before they knew it, they heard heavy footsteps coming from outside their tent. Before they knew it, Marshall pulled back the tarp of their tent and said, “Hey kiddo, rise and shine.”

Their words bounced off Frisk as they continued to stir in their bed. Marshall’s eyes lowered before they quickly walked out of their tent and came back with a jug of water and a long wooden branch. They poked Frisk’s quivering body with the fallen branch, but it seemingly had no effect on them. They had considered splashing them in the face with water, but then a more devious thought came to mind. “...Yah know I’m going to jump on top of you if you don’t get up,” said Marshall with a sarcastic edge. Even though they never intended to do that, their gut told them that it would be an effective ruse to wake them up. Sure enough, with a breathy yawn Frisk said, “...I’m up…I’m up.” While Marshall was relieved that they were awake, they were taken aback by how tired their young ally looked. From the midnight-colored bags under their eyes, and a wobbling posture, they looked absolutely miserable.

“Geez did ya sleep at all last night?” asked Marshall, as Frisk weakly nodded their head. “Barely,” said Frisk, “I tried to fall asleep, but after what happened yesterday...” The monster nodded in seeming agreement, before remarking, "You know if ur worried about Ropen, you shouldn’t be. We have this huge barrier right above the camp, so as long as it’s up he can’t get in. It would be like a bird trying to go through a window, absolute disaster.” Frisk’s eyebrows twisted in confusion as Marshall said, “Look, the point is he won’t be able to snatch yah in the middle of the night.” They stretched out their back before adding, “Anyway, I know yer tired, but ya need to get started on your trainin’.”

 In a dazed voice, Frisk asked, “W-wait? What training?” before being splashed in the face with freezing water. All at once, it felt like their drowsiness had been shot away and was replaced by confusion and annoyance. As Frisk wiped themselves off, Marshall said, “Survival training, what else? If I let you go out right now, you'd waltz into Ropen’s maw, do ya want that?” Frisk immediately shook their head as the monster said, “Good, there ain’t no one reasonable who’d wanna end up in ‘im. After all, you'd hardly survive a minute in there and it would be a horrible way to go.” They walked around the room like a drill sergeant, while saying, “ So, to prevent that from happening I’m gonna teach ya some lessons. I’m gonna show ya what food to eat, what to avoid, and how to avoid being on the menu.” While yawning, Frisk replied, “Got it,” before their eyes became droopy again. Marshall sighed, “Jeez I hope this doesn’t become a pattern.”

Frisk rolled their eyes as they mumbled, “It won’t be, I don’t plan on staying here long.” Marshall scoffed as they said, “You'll get out of here when you can defend yerself. Until that happens or god forbid we have to abandon camp, yer with me.” The human crossed their arms as Marshall turned around and picked up a capsule. They brought it over to Frisk and laid the jar on the ground and unscrewed the cap with their tail. As the cap fell off, a foul odor filled their room. It smelled like rotten eggs that had been left out in the sun for an entire week. While pinching their nose, Frisk saw that the inside of the jar was coated in a tar-like gel that bubbled at the top. It weirdly resembled the face paint that American Football players would place under their eyes. 

“Ugh, what is that?” asked Frisk as Marshall replied, “Extra reassurance, this gel is able to gross out even the boldest of hunters.” The human winced as they said, “I can see why,” before they saw Marshall wiping it on their face and tail. Even if they didn’t want to smell like a rotten egg, Frisk concluded that it would be better for their safety if they were wearing the gel. So they hesitantly applied it to their face, and arms, while cringing in disgust. As they finished applying the gel, Marshall walked over and laughed at them. “Did yah seriously give yourself stripes?” asked the monster as Frisk replied, “What? I think they look cool.” Marshall looked off to the side and chuckled, “Alright, I’ll give ya that, they are…cool.”

The hatted monster got up and said, “Alright, outside of some water and snacks, I think we’re ready for the nature trail...” Without missing a beat, Frisk exclaimed, “W-wait we’re going back out there? Marshall, that place was crawling with predators last night, can’t we just train in here?” The monster looked back at them and replied, “Kid I go out here everyday and I’m fine. ‘Sides learning in the field is always better than doing it in the camp.” That answer didn’t calm down Frisk as they were still dreading the hypothetical dangers that could be in that jungle. “W-what if Ropen shows again?” asked Frisk as the grizzled monster tipped their hat over their eyes. Panic began to spread over Frisk's body as their concerns were ignored. They exclaimed, “Marshall, I was lucky on my first encounter, but what if he comes back…” as Marshall replied, “Then we’ll face him together.”

As the two of them walked out of the tent, Frisk said, “But what if we aren’t as lucky next time. What if your headbutt’s angle is off, or he attacks me when I’m alone. Marshall I’m scared, I can’t come back from this.” The monster hesitantly replied, “Kiddo, doncha worry about that stuff as long as there’s still a fire in my belly, he won’t get you.” They patted Frisk on the back as they said, “Y’all be fine, don’t worry.” That seemed to reassure Frisk for the moment as they gave Marshall a weak, but hopeful smile. Frisk packed as many supplies as they could manage and placed them in their inventory. Marshall looked amused as the huge pile of tools in Frisk’s hands disappeared into a small, holographic box. “Technology truly is somethin’” said Marshall as Frisk nodded back at them. They shoved the large wooden gates open, before waving back to the camp. A small crowd murmured to themselves as the door slammed behind them. While they couldn’t hear all of it, the little they did hear filled them with worry. 

“Is that the kid Marshall brought over?” said one of the campers as another claimed, “They’re going to get themselves killed.” As Frisk looked down in fear, Marshall nudged them on the shoulder and said, “They’re just talking smack, don’t worry about it.” Frisk nodded before they looked closer and noticed a small trail of dirt following them. ”What’s this?” asked Frisk before they saw a small yellow petal poking out of the ground. They wistfully exhaled as they quickly realized who it was. “So there you are Flowey,” said Frisk, “I wonder what took him so long?” Marshall chuckled before saying, “He probably just got tired of you.” 

The flower burst out of the ground and objected, “Hey that’s not why I was MIA. I was checking up on Alphys’s drone, and it seems like you fools did nothing to fix it.” Marshall replied, “Hey it’s a lot more advanced than we thought it would be. Even if the damage is minimal, Chive-o-bāsan thinks it will take her until high noon to repair it.” Frisk smiled as they said, “Well at least that’s not too long, we’ll be talking to Alphys very soon.” 

As they said this Marshall asked, “By the way, why are you in such a hurry to fix it? It’s just a robot.” The human replied, “Well it’s the only device that can connect us to Dr. Alphys. She’s the smartest scientist I have ever met, and I bet she can be a real asset out here.” The monster turned away as they said, “I’ll believe it when I see it. In my experience scientists are usually more trouble than they're worth.” Frisk clutched their phone as they silently walked by the hatted monster. They knew that Marshall was an old soul at heart, wise but paranoid. Even if they had their reasons for distrusting their friend, their comment still hurt. After all, they were judging her before they even met her, all because of her profession.

As they walked underneath towering gingkos, Frisk wondered how they would get Marshall to realise that they were wrong. Even if Alphys had made many mistakes in the past, she still owned up to them. That had to be better than the scientists who soured Marshall’s view on them, right? They looked back at the monster and saw that they were disappearing into a sea of neon blue horsetails. As Frisk ran after them, they were overwhelmed with the fragrant smell of pine needles. It reminded them of old winter holidays that they would spend back at the orphanage, bundled by the fire hoping to get adopted. Even as that dream faded away, those were still some of the few pleasant memories Frisk ever had of that place. It felt like they were walking back in time, to a happier rose tinted past. 

They were knocked back to reality by the rustling of bushes. Frisk remembered where they were and immediately hid amongst the weeds, even if Marshall said they would be safe, this was still a jungle infested with dinosaurs. One wrong move could end  up with them becoming a victim of a predator’s bloodlust. So they periodically poked their head up like a meerkat and looked at every branch, bush, and trail for danger. Right as they realized that the coast was clear, their stomach rumbled with a veracity they had never heard before. They immediately regretted not having breakfast and plucked out a pile of horsetails and tried to put them in their mouth. Unfortunately, Marshall quickly ripped it out and said, “Don’t eat those, you’ll get sick.”

“Alright, what can I eat?” asked Frisk as Marshall replied, “I don’t know, what can a mammal like you eat ‘round here?” The human shrugged as they looked at the ground and noticed a small patch of mushrooms. “Maybe a mushroom?” said Frisk as they shrugged their shoulders in confusion. Marshall nodded while saying, “Yer correct, just be careful ‘round the poisonous ones, they love to mimic the edible ones. Thankfully, there’s an easy way around here to figure out if a mushroom is dangerous or not.” They picked up a mushroom with their tail and motioned towards a small black dot. “Do you see the little dot? Folks ‘round here call it a dead pixel. If you eat a toadstool with a dead pixel, well the name’s self-explanatory." 

The teen nodded along before Marshall said, “I’ll give you twenty minutes to collect mushrooms around the forest. You can pick whatever ones you want, just make sure to differentiate between the safe and poisonous ones. If you can do that, we might have some soup later.” Frisk gave them a thumbs up while saying, “You got it boss,” before running into the brush. Marshall chuckled, “Ah, their enthusiasm is infectious, it reminds me of myself when I was younger.” They put their head on their temples as they said, “I just hope they don’t make too much noise, after all there’s always something stalking around these woods.” 

Frisk heeded Marshall’s warnings and stayed as quiet as they could. They listened in for any minute change in sound and smell of the forest. Even if they were wearing the antipredation gel, they knew they couldn’t let their guard down, not in here. As they stealthily moved around the jungle, they found many types of mushrooms. From blue ones, to red ones, even some ultraviolet ones that looked grey to them. They picked around one hundred of these shrooms and made sure to separate the edible ones from the non-edible ones. After they did this, they realized that they still had more than ten minutes left to collect more mushrooms, but they really didn’t want to stay out there any longer. The more they were separated from Marshall, the more it felt like they were being watched.

“Hey Flowey, do you think I should just give these to Marshall?” asked Frisk, “I think this is more than enough.” Flowey bluntly claimed, “Are you sure about that? A lot of them look poisonous.” as Frisk objected, “Hey, I separated them into safe and dangerous categories, we should be fine.” The flower laughed as he said, “Alright, just remember that you’re the one who’s going to be eating it. If there’s not enough food it’s all on you.” The teen rolled their eyes before walking back to Marshall, though as soon as they took their first step, their phone rang out to the entire jungle.

While fumbling the phone in their hands, Frisk felt hundreds of hungry eyes glaring at them.  “God can you turn it off?” groaned Flowey, “you’ll attract whatever’s hiding in those bushes.” Frisk exclaimed, “I-i’m trying,” to Flowey before they finally got a solid grip on the device. “W-Who is this?” asked the human while they heard something scratching at the other end of the line. 

“I-Is this a prank call?” asked Frisk as Flowey said, “Probably, you should probably hang up before they steal your identity.” The teen laughed, “Do you really think there are people like that out here?” as Flowey claimed, “Hey, there are assholes everywhere, you can never be too safe.” Frisk put a hand over their mouth, before noticing that the number looked familiar. “What are you waiting for?" asked Flowey, “Come on, turn that damn thing off.” The human weakly chuckled, “hehehe, no promises,” as the flower smacked himself in the face.

 “Could you check if the bushes are safe?” asked Frisk, “I don’t want to be ambushed on a call.” Flowey rolled his eyes and said, “If you don’t want to be ambushed, get off your stupid phone.” Frisk replied, “I would, but I think I know this number, but I can’t put my finger on why.” Flowey groaned as slid into the bushes while saying, “Alright, but if I get mulched it’s on you.” The human rolled their eyes as they said, “Don’t be so dramatic, after all you’re a lot stronger than me.” The flower laughed, “As if, Frisk, you're a kid that saved an entire kingdom, I’m just a lowly little flower.” Frisk snorted, “And a former God of Hyperdeath,” as Flowey retorted, “Yeah, former, I’m basically helpless now.” The teen said, “I think you’re selling yourself short,” before the voice on their phone asked, “Frisk are you there?”

Frisk's eyes instantly went wide as they exclaimed, “Wait Ahool?! Why are you-” Before she quickly shushed them. “Not so loud,” said Ahool, “ You’re lucky I’m not in the same room as my dad or else he would have heard you.” Frisk nodded their head, as they whispered, “Gotcha, so why are you calling me?” Ahool replied, “Well first of all, I wanted to make sure that you’re safe. Dad mentioned that he nearly caught a human yesterday and given that you’re the only one in the jungle…” Her voice trailed off as Frisk considered whether they should tell her the truth. On one hand, Ahool might be relieved if they said they were fine. At the same time, they knew that she deserved the truth and needed to know what her father tried to do to them. So after weighing their two options, Frisk said, “Yeah that was me.”

Ahool stayed silent as she took in the information, feelings of horror, protectiveness, and empathy engulfed her mind. She asked them, “Did he hurt you?” as a shiver trickled down Frisk's spine like an ice-cold water droplet. Their lips trembled as they replied, “Y-yeah h-he did a lot to me. He first dangled me above his mouth and even lowered me into it for his own amusement. Afterwards he stood on the snare so I couldn’t run away and cut into my cheek. If it wasn't for my quick thinking and Marshall's aid… Things could've ended really, really badly.” 

Ahool lowered the phone from her ears as Frisk’s voice became heavy. She could tell that the young teen was traumatised by her father and was desperately trying to put on a brave face. Even though they managed to escape from him, Ahool could tell that Frisk’s scars would never fully heal. It made her sick that she used her father’s rules without a care in the world. So many lives could have been saved if she realized what her father had turned into sooner.

She was grateful that Marshall was able to protect them when she knew she couldn’t. After all, Marshall was his greatest source of opposition and she was just his former accomplice and daughter. She didn’t think that Frisk could ask for a better protector in the entirity of the Void. Even under their protection, Ahool couldn’t shake the feeling that she could do more to help Frisk. Maybe it was just guilt over all of the others she failed to save, but knew that she needed to do something more.. So she told them, “I won’t let him do that to you again, you’ve got my word.” 

Frisk quietly thanked her before noticing a rustling bush, it seemed to be louder than any before. As they tensed up for a fight, Flowey slinked into the bush and wrestled whatever beast was hiding in it. Ahool asked Frisk, “I’ve gotta ask, has Marshall done a good job protecting you?” As they saw a long tail poke out of the bush, the teen sarcastically replied, “I mean they could be doing worse, they could’ve brought me into the woods with dangerous dinosaurs.” Their friend enthusiastically replied, “Oh that’s good, I’m glad my intuition was right. They brought you to their camp as well, right?” Frisk immediately held their tongue, because even if they trusted Ahool, Ropen could always be listening to them. If he learned that they were currently living there, he would storm the camp and find them in the rubble. Even if Marshall claimed that defenses were foolproof, that the crafty pterosaur would still find some sort of opening. So they whispered to Ahool, “Could you please tell your dad that I never went to the village, for everyone’s sake.” The young Azhdarchid admitted, “I wish I could, but he already knows all of my tells, and…” She paused before saying, “Besides, he told me he'll be there by high noon.”

Frisk's heart sank at the news. While they could have avoided him under other circumstances, they couldn’t abandon Alphys’s drone. They needed to tell her that they were doing alright, that they hadn’t met the same fate as her wife. “Can you delay him?” asked Frisk before Ahool replied, “Not in a million years, he’s very insistent on getting there at that time. He even told me that he didn’t mind waiting weeks at that village just to catch you, he's never been this motivated before…” The teen snapped their fingers in frustration, before putting their hand on their chin. There had to be some way to trick Ropen.

In spite of his boisterous attitude, the man-eating beast was disturbingly perceptive. He was able to read them like a children’s book; every ploy they made to save their life was as obvious to him as a glowing neon sign. The only person that Frisk knew that was more perceptive than him was Sans, not that he could be any help right now. The only thing that kept them safe during their encounter was his ego. He could’ve killed them at any point, but he thought that playing with food was more important than actually consuming. As reliable as exploiting that flaw was, they knew he wouldn’t fall for it a second time. If they’re going to get out of here alive, they’re going to have come up with a plan that Ropen could never anticipate. What could catch Ropen off guard, while also ensuring their safety?

They suddenly had a eureka moment, Ropen was highly obsessed with his family. He constantly ranted about his troubled relationship with his kids and how much he hated that they changed. If Ahool could convince him that she had a change of heart, maybe she could help them escape this horrible forest and her father’s clutches forever. So they told her, “Maybe you should go with him,” as Ahool sputtered, “Wait, what? Frisk I don’t think that’s a good ide-” Only for Frisk to exclaim, “I know, I know, but it might be my best chance of getting out of here. Besides, he already told me that he hates how “rebellious” you’ve become, so if you frame this as a father-daughter bonding experience, maybe he’ll fall for it. ”

There was a brief pause before Ahool sighed as she said, “Okay I’ll try it, but don’t expect things to go perfectly.” Frisk replied, “Fair enough, by the way he doesn’t have any contingency plans right?” As Ahool replied, “Well he does have my twin brother Mato, unlike me he never broke away from Dad’s mantra. So I doubt he’d have any issue with killing you.” The human remarked, “That’s concerning, you two do look different right?” The pterosaur replied, “Oh yeah he has-” Before she was cut off as Marshall yelled for them to come back.

“Kid it’s been over twenty minutes,” exclaimed Marshall, “you’ve been collecting those mushrooms right?” The teenager exasperatedly replied, “Y-yeah, I’m finding a lot of them right now, there’s so many in my hands you won’t believe it.” Frisk waited before Marshall claimed, “Alright, I just hope you ain’t goofing off right now, it’s a fatal mistake in this land.” The teen nodded, before whispering, “I’ll talk to you later,” as Ahool said, “Wait I still need to tell you abou-” before Frisk nervously hung up the phone. They hoped that they wouldn’t regret their decision later.

Marshall walked towards them with their eyebrows twisted in a judging fashion. “You were calling someone weren’t yah,” said Marshall as Frisk replied, “N-no, I was just…looking at this fruit.” They pointed to a lone glowing red berry in the distance. It stuck out of the ground like a lamp post and pulsated like a beating heart. Marshall sighed, “So you didn’t notice the audience?” as Frisk replied, “w-what audience?” The bushes became more restless as Marshall replied, “Frisk, get away from the bushes and look at me.” They nervously tip-toed to Marshall as they heard screeching and hooting in the plants behind them. “You know, Flowey’s handling whatever’s in there," said Frisk as Marshall said, “Yeah but it’s not a good idea to face a spitter.” The teen asked, “What’s a spitter?” before a strange creature erupted from the undergrowth.

It was a small green dinosaur with leopard spots running down its neck. It had a small thin crest on its head and a large frill attached to its neck, like a highly outdated depiction of a Dilophosaurus from the 1990s. Frisk ducked as the small beast attempted to spit at them, only for its mouth to be clamped by a vine. “Yeah, no you don’t,” said Flowey, before slamming the dinosaur to the ground. “Do you know how long I had to hold this thing back?” complained Flowey, “If you hadn’t stayed still maybe it wouldn’t have gotten so bold.” Marshall said, “Actually running away tends to encourage them, besides the cream also keeps these beasts at bay.” Flowey yelled, “The cream didn’t do crap,” as the Dilophosaurus yelled in frustration.

Marshall laughed, “Just be glad that it’s only a spitter, if you encountered a Don then things could’ve gotten really ugly.” Frisk asked, “What’s a Don?” as Marshall replied, “Well they are a lot like this thing, except they’re twenty feet long, have no venom or frills, have a cooler crest, and are far more aggressive. I’ve seen some Dons even act as leaders for squads of these little beasts, just be glad you only encountered one of them.” They walked over to the Spitter and said, “Tell yer friends the kid’s off limits,” as the dinosaur nodded as it was released by Flowey. He kept a close eye on it as it disappeared into the underbrush, never to return.

“At least it was only by itself,” sighed Marshall, before noticing that Frisk was gnawing at their nails. “Is there something on yer mind?” asked Marshall as Frisk replied, “Could we please go back to the camp? I don’t feel safe around here.” The monster lowered their hat as they said, “I know it’s scary, but you ain’t gonna learn how to outwit them cooped up in a tent.” They saw Frisk look away nervously while mumbling, “That’s not what I meant.” This response confused Marshall, after all if they were worried about anything it would have to be about the dinosaurs, right?

While nonchalantly walking away, Marshall said, “Look you’ve got the cream on yer face, that should’ve been enough to protect ya’.” Frisk walked in front of Marshall and said, “I don’t think that cream did anything, that Dilophosaurus still tried to attack me.” The monster sputtered out, “W-well, maybe it didn’t look like it, but it must’ve delayed it,” as Frisk retorted, “No Flowey delayed it.” They wrapped their arms around their ribcage as they said, “I don’t get why you left me alone, not in an area like this.” The monster sighed, “To be fair, you did wander a bit far,” as Frisk said, “It wasn’t that far,” as Marshall claimed, “It was far enough.”

The teenager rolled their eyes before a devious thought came to their mind. They knew that Marshall wasn’t as attentive as they would like, so they wanted to test what their limits were. Frisk walked up to the lone lure like fruit and reached out to grasp it. “Frisk, what are you doing?” asked Marshall as they replied, “Getting some fruit, what else?” Marshall silently nodded, before looking back at Frisk and being horrified by what they saw. The teen swore that they could hear Marshall’s jaw slam onto the ground. Before they knew it, Marshall tackled them away from the plant and said, “What the hell are you doing?” Frisk smiled while saying, “I already told you, besides this soup could use some fruits right?” Marshall leaned down as they saw Frisk’s eyes dart away nervously from them. “Don’t yah find it suspicious that there’s only a single fruit on this massive plant," said Marshall before picking up a rock. “Let’s test out a theory,” said the monster as they chucked it at the fruit. 

The stone shot the fruit off the vine as if it were a plinking target. As it fell off, massive vines erupted from the plant in a vain attempt to grab whatever attacked its lure. It’s massive petals flared inward like a cage that attempted to trap any creatures that got too close, but because it sensed no quarry it slowly returned to normal. Marshall laughed, “And that’s why you don’t do anything stupid down here. We call that plant a Yateveo, it has the power to strip the flesh from your bones in two minutes flat, not a pretty sight.” Frisk gagged as they remarked, “Thanks for the visual… I really needed that.” Their marigold complexion turned a sickly green, before Marshall remarked, “Well don’t worry about it, their traps are really, REALLY obvious.” 

Frisk gulped as they replied, “Well at least you caught me before I grabbed it,” as Marshall playfully glared at them. “Ya’ll weren’t going to grab it were ya,” remarked Marshall as Frisk laughed, “Guilty as charged, I just wanted to know if you were actually keeping an eye on me.” The monster replied, “I don’t need to, if you’re in any danger I know you’ll scream like a little kid” The teen sputtered out, “H-hey, I’m not that much of a screamer,” as Marshall laughed, “Tell that to Ropen, the whole reason he tried to mess with ya is because you screamed so much.” Frisk tried to respond, but Marshall just shook it off. “Ya don’t need to explain yourself kid, I know yer stressed out,” said the monster. They motioned for them to give them the mushrooms as Frisk asked, “Are these enough?” Marshall replied, “They’re more than enough now move along now, I’ve got some more lessons for yah.” Frisk nodded and followed Marshall down to a small pond.

Its surface was nearly transparent, only illuminated by the glowing forest around them. A large herd of hadrosaurs had gathered near the water, drinking it up like birds in a pond. Though some of them were gathered around a pile of log, tipping it over as if they were searching for something. “What are they doing over there?” asked Frisk as they pointed to the log tipping group. “Ah, they’re looking for crabs,” said Marshall as Frisk replied, “Wait but they’re herbivores.” The monster chuckled, “There’s more to them than meets the eye.”

Frisk asked, “Is this my lesson?” as Marshall replied, “No this is.” Without warning, Marshall dunked the teen’s head under the water with their foot, before quickly yanking them out. “Now wasn’t that refreshen?” asked Marshall with a sarcastic grin on their face as Frisk coughed out, “You’re a jerk.” The monster laughed, “Well that’s whatcha get for pranking with the plant, what goes around comes around.”

They sat down next to Frisk and said, “In all seriousness you’ve got a reckless streak. From getting distracted on yer phone, to staying up all night, to even walking up to a Yateveo. This hasn’t been a trend with ya right?” The teen looked off to the side as Marshall said, “I’ll take that as yes.” Frisk admitted, “I guess, I felt like I could do anything when I was younger. I could undo every mistake, I could do anything I wanted. But even if I can’t do that anymore, I guess my mind still hasn’t adjusted to that.” Marshall sighed, “Look, that’s just part of growing up. You have more responsibilities and you have more consequences for your actions, but you also have more freedom.”

“What are you talking about,” said Frisk, “I don’t have any freedom, not anymore.” The monster said, “It may not seem like that, but trust me you’ll get it before long. Just take me for example, when I was a tyke and still said, yo, no one took me seriously. I was kept away from danger and protected from anything; no adult listened to a single word I said.” Frisk looked away as Marshall continued, “Though after gettin’ some experience and doing a bit of growing up, all those walls broke away. Now they’ve gotta listen to me, and I ain’t lettin’ them live that down.” 

“I guess that’s something to look forward to,” said Frisk, “but it doesn’t really help me right now.” Marshall admitted, “I guess it doesn’t, but I just wantcha to know that things get better.” Frisk smiled as Marshall added, “Now that being said, that ain’t no reason to goof off.” As the teenager shook their head and explained, “I wasn’t goofing off, a friend of mine told me that her father was going to attack the village.” Marshall’s eyes went wide as they said, “Why didn’t you lead with that? I would have cancelled this whole thing if you told me that Ropen was going to attack.” Frisk said, “I tried to tell you earlier, but you just walked away.” The monster asked, “Did she give you a time?” as Frisk said, “Twelve O'Clock, same time as the repairs will be done.” 

Marshall grabbed Frisk with their tail and said, “We don’t have a lot of time to waste, we need to go now!” The monster hurried them through the jungle and ran back to camp. As they ran throughout the forest, the two of them made quite the ruckus. Twigs, branches, and other materials were smashed as they hurried back to camp. The teenager felt the same eyes stare back at them as before, this was the second time they were made a target by the forest. “Marshall, don't you think this is a bit reckless?” said Frisk as Marshall replied, “This is the perfect time to get reckless, I’m not letting him cut you off.” Frisk’s blood ran cold as they heard a loud roar right near them.

A large flock of birds flew away as they all heard the sound, a large packs of theropods ran away as well. Many of those dinosaurs looked like they could have attacked Frisk if they really wanted to. “Oh god, that’s Polyphia the lame,” said Marshall, “We need to run now!” As they ran frantically towards the camp, Frisk laughed, “Wait Polyphia the lame? Why should we be afraid of them?” The monster explained, “Because she’s the only tyrannosaur who fought the Void King and lived to tell the tale.” The teen shook their head as they said, “I still don’t get the name.”

The two heard heavy footsteps behind them as Marshall dashed into several trees. The trunks shattered as the middle-aged monster broke through them like they were made of toothpicks. “Do you think I’ll be able to do that?” asked Frisk as Marshall replied, “Only if you get a strong dome like mine.” Frisk pouted before they saw the large wooden gates in front of them. Marshall yelled, “Open the gates, NOW!” as they heard the beast getting closer and closer. The crew near the gates hastily opened it up as Frisk and narrowly dashed in.” Marshall sighed, “That was a close call, I’m just glad she forgot to teleport,” as Frisk exclaimed, “Wait she can teleport?” The monster chuckled, “Well, that’s what the rumors say.” 

Marshall opened up a watch and looked at the time, and chuckled, “11:30, we got here right in time, if it wasn’t for Polyphia we might have been late.” The large tyrannosaur walked away as Frisk said, “I guess, say, do you think she let us go?” Marshall sighed, “Of course not, she’s an apex predator we just got lucky.” The teenager claimed, “Well another Tyrannosaur let me go, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities.” The monster laughed, “You have a colorful imagination before hurrying them to Chive-o-basan’s tent. “Come on, we’ve gotta see how yer friend is doing.”

The two of them pulled back the curtain as Chive-o-basan put the finishing touches on the drone. “She's right here,” said Chive as Frisk nervously approached the small robot. Its small boxy frame no longer had a massive hole in it; it looked good as new. It might have had a cracked screen, but Frisk could live with that for now. The power light on the small robot glowed faintly green as Marshall closed the tarp and prepared the soup. “It wasn't easy, but she should be operational by now,” said Chive as Frisk pressed the power button. In the back of their mind, they worried that Alphys wouldn’t even be there. It had been more than a day since they ran into the Void, and she was freaking out about her wife’s disappearance. What would she do if she was left alone? Before their mind could be darkened by that troubling thought, the monitor turned on as a familiar scientist looked at Frisk.

She looked just as disheveled as Frisk, even her glasses couldn’t hide her exhausted eyes. Her back was slouched more than usual; it looked like one wrong move could lead to her falling right onto the drone’s monitor. Alphys adjusted her glasses as she examined the person on the other end of the screen. She put her hands over her mouth in shock as she soon realized who she was talking to.

“I'm not dreaming right?” she asked, “This isn’t a trick of the mind, right?” Frisk shook their head and replied, “No worries I’m the real deal.” Alphys' eyes lit up with rejuvenated hope as she exclaimed, “T-this wonderful.” She cried tears of joy before adding, “Papyrus and Toriel called me yesterday and they were petrified when you went missing. When I tell them you're still alive, they’ll be ecstatic...” She eagerly texted those two the good news while wiping away all of her tears. Frisk was overwhelmed as Alphys began to make text after text, in mere moments. “This is the scientist you were talking about?” remarked Marshall, “She seems like kinda an airhead.” The teen put their arm over their head while remarking, “That isn’t an inaccurate description, but I’m telling you she’s amazing at her job.” Marshall chuckled as they remarked, “Well, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Chive claimed, “Well either way, I think I should give you all some space,” before exiting the tent.

 Alphys suddenly stopped typing as she looked back at Frisk. There was worry in her eyes as she asked, “S-so, did you manage to get a hold of Sans and Undyne?” Frisk hesitantly replied, “Y-yeah, I was able to call Sans yesterday, both he and Undyne are still alive.” Marshall mumbled, “So that’s why you were up so late,” under their breath. Alphys remarked, “Well that’s a relief, at least we know they’re okay.” The teenager replied, “Well I don’t think they are…” as their voice trailed off. “Frisk, you said they were alive, right?” said Alphys as Frisk sank into their shoulders. Could they tell her the truth? How would she react to the news that her wife and coworker were being experimented upon by an evil queen? They knew that Alphys was an extremely flighty person and if they told her the truth, then the results could be deadly. So they claimed, “They’ll be fine, I should be able to get to them before anything bad happens,” as Marshall’s face noticeably darkened.

“Well that’s still pretty ominous, but at least they aren’t dead,” said Alphys, “T-that’s one more worry off my chest.” Her anxiety petered out as she asked, “So where are you? I don’t recognize that room,” as Frisk replied, “I'm umm, in Survival Forest, it was pretty scary at first, but Marshall helped me out, say hi Marshall.” The monster grumbled as they said, “It’s called the Jungle of Terror you halfwit,” under their breath. “T-they seem…fun…?” said Alphys, “You know, I wish I upgraded your phone like the others, then you wouldn’t have had to fix this drone.” The teen replied, “Y-yeah that would have made things a whole lot easier as they looked back to their phone. They got a message that read, “I’m here, please stay still.” They gulped as they said, “You know, I have a feeling that I’ll be out of here in no time.”

Marshall suddenly rose up and looked Frisk straight in the eyes and asked, “Why are you lying to her?” Their eyes widened in shock before they looked back at Marshall. Despite the venom coming off of their tone, Frisk could sense that this was a genuine question. They replied, “I'm not though, I have a plan to get out of here?” Marshall scoffed, “Really now, you didn’t tell me that you had a plan,” as Frisk said, “Well I had a feeling you wouldn’t like my plan, it’s very risky.” The monster remarked, “Yeah, with your track record I wouldn’t be surprised,” as Alphys said, “C-could you two stop yelling at each other?”

Marshall sighed, “I’ll try but I don’t like things being hidden from me, besides I have a feeling they were sugarcoating your friends’ fate.” Frisk claimed, “Well Alphys has had issues with anxiety and-” as Marshall interjected, “Bullshit, they're a grown woman they can know the truth. I don’t know about yer friends, but I do know that I can’t let Frisk out of here anytime soon.” Alphys yelled, “You can’t be serious, our universe is in danger of being destroyed and you just want to coop them up in a scary jungle?” Marshall replied, “Well it's better than letting them be devoured by a man-eating pterosaur.” Alphys laughed as she said, “Okay now I know you’re joking, Pterosaurs have been extinct for over 66 million years they can’t be eaten by a fossil.” She let out a weak laugh before she noticed that neither Frisk nor Marshall were laughing alongside her. “Wait? Frisk is this actually true?” asked Alphys as Frisk solemnly nodded and Marshall added, “and if it wasn’t for me they'd already be gone.”

The two of them heard rumbling above them, as Alphys asked, “Hey, what’s that noise?” Marshall looked outside and saw two large figures hovering above the camp in perfect harmony. One was a massive pterosaur with glowing inner wings, while the other one was far smaller and appeared only as a silhouette. “Is that yer ride?” said Marshall with a deadpan expression, as they pointed to the two pterosaurs. “Not the big one,” said Frisk as Marshall brought out a pot and placed it in front of them. “That still has troubling implications,” remarked the monster, “Hide in here, I'll settle this.” The teenager did as they were told and hid in the pot as Marshall confidently walked out of the tent.

They thought it was strange that only two pterosaurs were here, after all if Ropen was so dedicated to capturing Frisk then why wouldn't he have brought the entire family? While thinking this over, the tingling smell of ash filled their nostrils. They sneezed from the excess smoke before noticing that the central gate had been set alight. The crimson red flames were eating away at the wood like a school of piranhas. Unfortunately, they soon realized that it wasn’t the only location that was on fire, the pillars maintaining the barrier were set alight. It was at this moment when Marshall remembered that Ropen’s son had the ability to breathe fire.

Marshall quickly grabbed several bottles of water and started spraying it on the wood. While it seemed to quell the fire on the gate, the fires on the pillars were only getting larger and larger. “What’s going wrong…” sneered Marshall as they saw the barrier flickering thanks to the fire damage. The pounding on the front door and barrier became louder and louder as Marshall tried in vain to fix the problem, and right when things looked like they couldn’t get worse, Mato broke through the front gate. 

He roared as the barrier's energy source was consumed by the fire. The barrier finally flickered out as Ropen and Ahool dove onto the ground right next to Mato. Their figures obscured by a cloud of smoke and ash, only their silhouettes could be seen. Though Ropen’s beak quickly emerged from the cloud, periodically turning like the needle of a compass. He growled lowly as he tried to find where Frisk was hiding, but unfortunately for him they were still in the tent. 

“Hmm so it's not out in the open…” said Ropen before looking back at his kids. He said, “...So you two want to make me proud? Do you want me to remove that curse? Find the human, now...” His two kids honked to the sky before emerging from the smoke. One was bright red with a Mohawk-like crest, and the other one was smoky grey with cloud like plumage. Both of them were dwarfed by their father but were still far taller than both Frisk and Marshall. The two of them galloped in opposite directions and quickly ran past Marshall and before they could react, the beasts were already both poking their heads through the tents. Their beaks clattered as they searched for their quarry. 

As soon as Marshall realized what they were doing, they tried to cut them off. They rammed into them, as they went from tent to tent. While they were able to knock them over at first, the two beasts quickly caught onto their strategy. They easily dodged the cantankerous monster as they dashed into them. To make matters worse, it was obvious that the red pterosaur was egging them on. It hopped around with the confidence of a pesky seagull, which might have been charming if it didn’t constantly nip at them. While the Red One had its fun, the grey pterosaur cautiously approached the tent that Frisk was hiding in. It moved as softly before Marshall gave it a death glare. It hesitantly walked backwards as it saw Marshall preparing to ram it. Though as it walked back, the second pterosaur made its move.

Marshall tried to reach their tent, but Ropen grabbed them by their tail and yanked them backwards. “Marshy please, let the kids have their fun…” laughed Ropen as a demented smile crept upon his face. “Ropen they’re trying to kill a child,” yelled Marshall as the pterosaur rolled his eyes. “...Oh please it's just fate, that rodent was doomed the second it fell down here,” said Ropen, “Might as well finish the job.” The monster gritted their teeth as they asked, “Why are you doing this?” Ropen scoffed, “Because I’m hungry?” as Marshall shook their head. They replied, “No, if this was just for a meal you wouldn't be this determined, what’s the real reason?” Ropen leaned up to Marshall’s ear and whispered something that only the two of them could hear.

Marshall’s pupils shrank as Ropen began his story. It was a level of openness and honesty that they never expected from this infamous killer. As they concluded, Ropen asked, “...Do you see why I want to catch them now?” His rival was speechless as the pterosaur yelled, “Come on Marshy, you can sympathize with me, right…?” Marshall begrudgingly looked to the side, as much as they hated to admit it, a small part of them felt bad for their rival. They said, “I know what you’re going through Ropen, and while your end goal is admirable, it's not worth the life of a ki-” As Ropen interjected, “It’s the life of a snack not a child, god it’s not anything worth getting upset about…” Marshall fiddled with something in their cloak as they said, “There has to be another way?” before Ropen said, “...Not for me. I’ve burned too many bridges to find another solution, but if I absorb this soul-” He pointed to Ahool and Mato before he said, “Then they can be free.”

Unbeknownst to the two of them, Alphys and Frisk were both listening in to their conversation. While neither of them heard Ropen’s speech, Marshall’s response told them everything. “I don’t get it,” said Frisk, “This guy considers himself the top of the food chain, what more could he want?” Alphys replied, “M-maybe but it’s obvious he doesn't have a lot of friends.” Frisk crossed their arms as they said, “Color me surprised, no one wants to be friends with a man-eating menace.” The scientist said, “W-wow I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this vindictive before.” As the teen replied, “Well if he wants to dehumanize me, then I should treat him the same way.”

Alphys replied, “You know, maybe he’s just telling himself that, after all it’s easier to kill an animal than a person” Frisk laughed, “You know, you’re not making him look better,” as Alphys replied, “I’m not trying to, I’m just trying to figure out what his deal is.” The two of them saw Flowey sneak into the tent as he said, “Personally I think he’s just a jerk.” The human gave them a thumbs up before their face paled upon seeing the dirt trail behind him. “Flowey, you weren’t followed right?” asked Frisk as Flowey said, “Not to my knowledge, why?” As he said this a large yellow beak poked into the tent. 

Frisk immediately closed the pot, as Alphys’s drone had its monitor shut off and fell to the floor. Whether this was Ahool or her brother Mato, they couldn’t tell. The teenager wished that they stayed back and listened to Ahool describe the differences between her and her brother. It would have been a true game at this moment. Whether or not this pterosaur was Ahool or Mato didn’t matter, either way they decided it was safer if they didn’t move a muscle. 

“What are we supposed to do?” asked Flowey as Frisk whispered, “Can one of you two talk to it? I might not know Ahool’s appearance, but I do know her voice.” Flowey sighed, “Great, I guess I’m doing this as wel-” before Alphys interjected, “I-I’ll talk to the pterosaur, you two stay hidden.” The two nodded as the scientist’s drone flew up to the pterosaur and said, “H-hello Mr, or Ms Pterosaur, my name is Dr. Alphys what’s yours?” The red pterosaur tilted its head as Alphys asked, “You can talk right?” As she said this, the red one shook its head and wrote a curse word on the ground. “W-why did you write that?” indignantly asked Alphys as the pterosaur continued to write swears on the ground. “T-this isn’t helping,” exclaimed Alphys as the Pterosaur wrote down the word, CURSE and a Pterosaur with its mouth wrapped in duct tape.

“So that’s what he meant by a curse,” said Alphys, “Why would he even do that to you?” The pterosaur drew a crude drawing of a man playing a trumpet. “You’re too loud?” asked Alphys as the pterosaur nodded. Alphys moved close to the pterosaur as she said, “You know between the two of us, I think I can help you with your ‘curse’, I doubt Ropen made anything too complicated Ahool.” The pterosaur cackled like a maniac as Alphys yelled, “H-hey stop laughing, I’m being serious.” 

She suddenly noticed the pterosaur’s eyes lower as it tried to look around her. Alphys saw a hand reach out of the pot and grab a sample of the mushroom soup and a small gemstone. The pterosaur slowly got up, before Alphys got right in front of it and said, “H-hey I’m trying to help you.” The beast honked in vain as he tried to get around Alphys, but the small little drone kept getting in the way. Eventually it had enough and grabbed the pot. It turned it over and tried to shake the contents out, but the only thing it got was dust. The pterosaur furiously slammed the pot on the ground as it started tearing up the tent. It screamed and howled as it tried to find Frisk, it looked under every pillow and in every corner, but the kid was nowhere to be found.

Alphys looked out of the tent and saw a strange silhouette dashing away from the tent. She immediately realized that it was Frisk and flew after them. Unfortunately, the pterosaur noticed Alphys flying off and immediately chased after her. She tried to throw off the pterosaur, but the creature wasn't fooled and ran right to the silhouette. Unfortunately for the pterosaur, the only thing it saw was a conveniently shaped cycad, what a disappointment. 

Alphys slightly chuckled before, the “cycad” flipped it’s hat up and looked to see if the coast was clear. It hid behind several tents as it narrowly avoided the gaze of the three pterosaurs. Alphys flew over and asked, “When did you find that outfit?” as Frisk replied, “It was in Marshall’s drawers, I think it’s one of their disguises. Also thanks for the help back there, I don’t think I would have been able to get away with it without you.” The scientist replied, “Well I’m glad to help,” before she let out a small yelp. Frisk looked forward and immediately noticed what freaked her out, the gray pterosaur was standing right in front of them. 

While it wasn’t directly staring at them, they were still in its line of sight. Frisk stood as still as a statue as the pterosaur slowly turned its head towards the teenager. It cautiously approached the cycad just like its siblings, but unlike them it started “playing” with the plant. The gray pterosaur moved and wiggled the plant with their hands and immediately noticed that something was wrong, cycads weren’t that flexible.

It walked closer and closer as Frisk reached for the stone in their pocket. As it looked like it was about to bite down, Frisk shone the ultraviolet stone into its eyes. It howled in pain as Frisk swiftly ran away from it. As they did this, Ropen yelled, “What the hell are you two doing, it’s a mammal, it can’t be that hard to find right?” The two subadult pterosaurs looked down in shame as Frisk looked around for an exit. The only person who noticed them was Marshall, whose face was wide with shock. 

Frisk mouthed, “Don’t say anything, don’t say anything, don’t say anything.” Thankfully for them, Marshall kept their mouth shut, they had other matters to deal with. As Ropen was distracted, Marshall used this time to fight against his grip. They twisted and wriggled as Ropen laughed, “Now what the hell do you think you’re doing…? Before he knew it, Marshall tore themselves out of Ropen’s grasp and was staring daggers at them. “...What the hell has gotten into you-...” said Ropen before he noticed Frisk standing in the distance.

“...So you’ve finally decided to show yourself,” said Ropen as his mouth began to water. He let out a horrible cackling laugh as he said, “TIME TO DINE!!!” The pterosaur galloped towards Frisk before he was pelted in the face with a smoke bomb. Before he knew it, a small hard object hit him on the side. “Marshall are you freaking kidding me right now,” yelled Ropen as Marshall shouted, “Not in a million years.” They looked back at Frisk and said, “Get out of here now.” Frisk yelled back, “What about you?” as Marshall replied, “I’ll hold him off, just focus on getting out here.” The teen yelled, “I’m not leaving witho-” as the monster roared, “Frisk that’s an order, RUN.” 

The teen gulped before running towards a small hole in the wall. As they did this, Ropen yelled out, “What the hell are you two doing, catch them now.” The two smaller pterosaurs both gave chase as they entered the hole. Their two beaks snapped at the teen as they army crawled through the small opening, nearly grabbing their legs as they squeezed through the tunnel. Once they thought that they were safe, they took one more look at the camp as they saw Ropen and Marshall disappear into a cloud of smoke. Their heart sank as they realized that Marshall had effectively sacrificed themselves for them. Even if they didn’t always get along, it felt horrible that one of their new friends might have bit the dust because of them.

Before this could get to them, they felt their left foot being pulled back into the camp. They soon realized that one of the pterosaurs had grabbed them and was yanking them back. To make matters worse, they felt a burning sensation on this foot, this wasn’t a normal pterosaur, this was Ropen’s fire breathing son Mato. They put their hands on the sides of the wall as they tried to prevent themselves from being pulled back, but soon a thought came to their mind. They grabbed the Ultraviolet Stone and smashed it on the beak of the pterosaur. It howled in pain as Frisk inched their wall out of the tunnel. 

As they got to the other side, Frisk took a deep breath before looking into the woods. They were terrified of it earlier but now it was their protection from the azhdarchids. One was an ally, and one was a foe, yet they didn’t know who was who. Alphys and Flowey moved right next to them as they looked upon the woods with a renewed sense of determination. They saw the two pterosaurs rise into the sky before bolting into the jungle. The chase was on.

 

Chapter 13: Chased by Dragons

Frisk felt their heart pounding as they ran away from the camp. Two huge azhdarchid pterosaurs were right on their tail, and any slip up could have fatal consequences. While they were able to initially escape from them by squeezing underneath the wooden walls of the camp, that victory was extremely short lived. The beasts quickly flew over the wooden walls and were now right above them. They hated how fast this week was going. From Marshall’s trials and Ropen’s attacks, if anyone else was in their shoes they’d yearn for a break by now. Sadly they knew that wasn’t realistic, not anymore. If they stopped running, they’d not only jeopardize their own safety, but the safety of everyone in their universe. It was a gamble between life and death, and they wouldn’t allow themselves to die here.

Moving alongside them was Flowey the Flower and the drone of Dr.Alphys. While neither of them was in as much danger as Frisk, there wasn’t a chance in hell that that they’d let the teen die on their watch. Alphys in particular wanted Frisk to stay alive, she couldn’t bear the thought of watching the person who helped her confess to Undyne die right in front of her. By contrast Flowey wanted to keep them alive for more selfish reasons. The human was begrudgingly the strongest person in their party, and they were extremely close friends with his sibling. If they messed up here, they’d never hear the end of it from Chara. The two of them barely kept pace with the teen as they both heard the pterosaurs honk loudly above them. Upon hearing this haunting call, Frisk immediately ran towards the densest and closest part of the jungle they could find.

As they ran into the thicket, they saw the red pterosaur diving headfirst towards their location. With the speed of a carnivorous fighter jet, if Frisk were in an open field they would have been screwed. Unfortunately for the cantankerous Azhdarchid, the terrain was now on Frisk’s side. It couldn’t fly through dense vegetation so as long as they were in the forest, they couldn’t be caught on the wing. However, Frisk also knew this wouldn't stop it forever. After all, Ropen was still able to pursue them into the forest, so why would that be any different for his kids? Though without a cumbersome snare wrapped around their right foot, Frisk believed they could escape. 

Unfortunately for the young human, the pterosaurs were still gaining on them. With every second they took a breath, with every time they tripped on an exposed root, they heard the pterosaurs getting closer and closer. The two of them galloped through the forest with a horse-like finesse. Even if they were occasionally slowed down by tree trunks and foliage, it didn’t seem to bother the beasts in the slightest. If Frisk didn't lose these two quickly, their fate would be sealed with a single decisive peck. 

There had to be somewhere they could hide or escape, right? They frantically looked throughout the jungle for anything that could help them. Their eyes darted around as they examined each and every one of their options. A hole in the tree? No, they'd be found immediately. Some bushes that matched the color of their shirt? No, the rustling would give them away. Maybe Flowey could pull them into a tree with his vines? Unfortunately, they were well aware that he couldn’t pull them up fast enough, they’d probably just die like that guy from that old dinosaur movie. Their breathing became faster and heavier as they started to hyperventilate, there had to be some way to escape, right? As they thought this, they didn’t notice that they were running straight towards a steep dirt slope.

They stopped immediately before they could run off the side of it. It looked incredibly coarse with jagged pebbles and rocks sticking out of the dirt, and bumps littering nearly every inch. The slide resembled a poorly maintained dirt road that a town would only repave every ten years, truly a terrible ride to go down. Though if there was one saving grace to the slope, it was the plants. The bushes and cycads along the slide concealed nearly all of it to onlookers. If Frisk could keep their head down and their voice low then maybe they could finally escape. 

As they considered it, they heard a loud twig snap behind them and saw the Red Pterosaur standing a couple of meters away. Upon noticing them, the large pterosaur immediately ran towards the young human. It stabbed its beak towards the teenager’s head, only missing them by a hair. Like a heron hunting a chipmunk, it wanted to end this quickly and gruesomely. It attempted to stab them multiple other times, but Frisk narrowly dodged it’s onslaught. If it hadn’t been for their muscle memory of fighting Undyne, they had no doubt that they would have easily been skewered by its furious assault. Though as they dodged the sharp beak stabs, they felt their feet getting closer and closer to the edge of the slope. 

They grabbed both sides of Alphys’s drone as they slowly walked backwards. “W-what are you doing?” asked Alphys, “Don’t tell me you’re going to use my drone as a shield.” The teen whispered back, “Don’t worry I know what I’m doing,” as they maintained eye contact with the beast. With the back of their shoes hovering over the edge of the slide, Frisk kicked a cloud of dirt into the creature’s eyes before tumbling down the natural slide.

Frisk’s heart pounded with adrenaline as they slid down the slope. While sliding down headfirst, they saw the red pterosaur screech in pain before it slowly disappeared from sight. “That should keep them busy,” thought Frisk before grabbing a vine to adjust their position. While falling down this slide was fun, they didn’t want the back of their head to smack into a rock at the bottom of it. Their ride down was still far from pleasant as their stomach jumped into their ribcage every time they hit one of those dreadful bumps. They felt the sand and gravel shred against their boots as they slid further and further down. The heavy vegetation blocked their view of the sky above; the only things they could see were a rushing flurry of cyans and reds. It was enough to make them feel a little bit nauseous, but thankfully for them, their ride was almost over.

Upon reaching the end of the slide, Frisk wobbled up and walked to the back of a tree. As they caught their breath, they turned the drone around and said, “See I told you I had it under control.” Alphys “Th-that’s a wonderful thing to tell yourself Frisk, so what are you going to do now?” The teen replied, “Well, I’m going to find out which of the pterosaurs is Ahool, find her, and get out of here.” As they said this, Alphys asked them, “But what about the village? They literally kept you safe for your first night down here, I doubt that Ropen guy would only stop at Marshall.” Frisk squeezed their eyes shut as they tried to block out that possibility. What if Ropen wanted them to go back there as a trap? If they tried to be the hero and ran back to the village they’d end up in the same position as they were yesterday. At the mercy of hungry pterosaur who only saw them as a potential meal. As this dreadful thought came to their mind, they suddenly noticed the ground shifting in front of them. Before they prepare themselves for danger, they stopped as a familiar face poked out of the dirt.

“Ugh, the ground around here is so confusing,” groaned Flowey as he burst from the ground, “One wrong move and you start clipping through the sand.” Frisk covered their mouth as they started giggling before Flowey yelled, “Hey I’m being serious, it was super annoying.” The teen stopped laughing and said, “Sorry about that, it just sounded a little bit ridiculous like you were in a video game. The flower rolled his eyes as he said, “Oh you have no idea.” Before he could continue, Alphys said, “Hey Frisk, you mentioned a pterosaur named Ahool. Do you have any idea what she looks like?” Frisk whispered, “I-I don’t know, she never had a chance to describe her appearance, god I wish I had spent just a few more minutes on that call." Flowey nodded his head and added, “Personally I think she’s the grey one, after all it's been way less aggressive than the red one.”

Frisk replied, “I mean, it still tried to shake me, so I’m not entirely sure they’re Ahool either.” Flowey said, “Frisk, the red one literally tried to skewer you, that doesn’t seem like a friend to me.” The teen replied, “I know, but what if that curse Ropen gave them affected their behavior as well. For all I know Ahool might be under its influence.” As they said this, Alphys replied, “Y-you know, shaking creatures in their mouths is how herons snap their prey’s spines. So it’s possible that the shaking could have been a precursor to that. The human gulped before they pulled out their phone and started dialing Ahool’s number. Before they could type it in, Flowey smacked it out of Frisk’s hands and said, “What are you doing?” As they quickly picked up their phone, Frisk replied, “Well if I don’t call her, then how am I supposed to know which one she is?” The flower immediately retorted, “Yes, and by doing that, we’ll also give away our position to the other one. Tell me Frisk, do you really want to do that?” The human shook their head as Flowey added, “Good, now think before you try to do something reckless again, alright?” They nodded their head before the three of them continued walking down the trail.

“I guess it was a dumb idea,” said Frisk, “Ropen stole her voice, so it’s not like she’d even be able to talk to us.” As they said this, the teenager heard something woosh into the air. Their hands shook as they said, “d-did anyone hear that?” as the other two simply shrugged. Frisk’s breathing became heavier as they quickly looked around for anything that looked like their attackers. Though outside of that simple woosh, there were no hints left in this jungle. Nothing made a single sound, it felt like every other creature in the forest was too terrified to make themselves known. They couldn’t blame them, after all nothing wants to be at the end of a pterosaur’s beak, but the silence was still haunting. After taking a few deep breaths, they thought they were in the clear before Alphys said, “F-Frisk, one of them found you.”

They nervously looked behind them and saw the grey colored pterosaur staring back at them. It seemed incredibly pensive and moved like it was stepping on eggshells. Every step was extremely careful, and it did well to avoid any wayward sticks. Unfortunately for the beast, Alphys happened to turn around and saw the beast sneaking in the undergrowth. Frisk didn’t break eye contact as they slowly walked away from it. Its beak softly clattered as it calmly approached Frisk, who didn’t respond in kind. Even if this pterosaur happened to be Ahool they knew that they couldn't take any chances, what if it was just trying to lure them into a false sense of security. So they turned around and dashed away from the pterosaur before it sprinted towards them.

Unfortunately for the beast it quickly got tangled up in vines and honked in anguish. Frisk pulled down their left lower eyelid and stuck out their tongue before they saw a cyan sonic boom racing right past them. “A blue move,” thought Frisk as they hardly dodged it. Back in the Underground certain moves were color coded to be either orange or cyan. Orange moves only hurt if you stay still, and cyan moves did the opposite. Were they trying to get them to stop?

This thought went to the back of their mind as they continued to run. Though the more they ran, the more a specific smell started to fill their nostrils, smoke. A burning branch fell from the canopy as Frisk looked above them. The tops of the trees were engulfed in an amber colored inferno, their leaves quickly turned as they were burnt to a crisp by the fire.

“Is he trying to set the entire forest on fire?” said Frisk as small rodents started to run past them. While smoke started to fill the air, Frisk could vaguely see the silhouette of one of the pterosaurs galloping towards them. “Seems like it,” said Flowey as he grabbed Frisk by the wrist, “Either way we need to run now!” As he dragged Frisk along, the human exclaimed, “Wait what about Ahool, she might be in there as well.” The flower yelled back, “She’ll be fine, now worry about yourself.” Frisk tried to break out of Flowey’s grip, but the Flower simply pulled them away further and further from the lone pterosaur. With no other options left, they ran alongside the other animals away from the flames and into a large open field. 

It was covered in an ocean of horsetails and ferns as far as the eye could see, but they couldn’t appreciate it for long. If the forest wasn’t covered in flames, then it would be an infinitely safer place to hide than this clearing. They noticed that the other side of the forest was as free from flames as an Antarctic blizzard. If they could get to it then maybe they would be able to survive. As they cautiously walked away from the fire, Frisk stopped as they heard something moving in the forest. They shivered in place as they saw the grey pterosaur emerge from the forest as the red one flew in from the sky. It gracefully landed on the ground with an overconfident flourish that annoyed its already ticked off sibling. The Grey One honked madly at it before they both fanned out into the clearing.

As the two pterosaurs leisurely patrol the field, Alphys said “F-Frisk please tell me you have a plan.” Frisk nervously replied, “I-I umm, y-yeah n-no worry, I-i have an idea,” as Flowey replied, “In other words you don't.” The teen gulped before saying, “N-no trust me, I have something…” before curling up into a ball and started shaking. They put their hands on the sides of their head and started murmuring to themselves. “Frisk, please take some deep breaths,” said Alphys as Frisk replied, “What does it matter, I’m going to die here anyways. I’m not strong enough, I’m not fast enough, hell I’m not even determined enough.” They pulled out their reset and said, “No matter what I do, I can’t reset down here, if one of them catches me I’m not coming back.” 

They looked down before Flowey pointed to the shifting shapes in the grass around them. “You may not be as screwed as you think you are,” said Flowey, “Not only is Ahool looking out for you, but these little vermin might provide a distraction.” The other mammals that escaped into the field loudly squeaked as they scrambled around. “W-what do you mean by that,” asked Frisk as Flowey replied, “Simple, if we're lucky, they'll get distracted by the rodents and we'll be able to escape.” Alphys murmured, “I-I'm not sure if that will work,” as Flowey said, “Alphys trust me, they’ll be fine.” As he said this, Frisk replied, “I-I’m not sure if I’m okay with this, after all if the pterosaurs target the rodents then-” Flowey replied, “Relax it’s just nature, it happens all the time,” as Frisk replied, “You’re starting to talk like Ropen.”

Flowey rolled his eyes as he and his allies looked onto the field. Sure enough the two pterosaurs got distracted and chased after these small animals instead of Frisk. Interestingly the two pterosaurs acted completely differently once they caught one of the little beasts. While the grey one usually spat out these furry animals, the ones caught by the red one weren't so lucky. It gulped them down like they were pieces of popcorn chicken, which made Frisk sick to their stomach. They wished they could help them, but they knew that if they tried anything they would meet the same tragic fate.

Both the pterosaurs seemed to be annoyed by the entire experience. The red pterosaur clearly wanted to catch them, while the grey one presumably wanted to save them. Even if the Red Pterosaur devoured its prey like a bag of potato chips, it clearly hated killing all of this bycatch. After downing its fifth rodent, the young pterosaur clearly had enough. It wound its neck back as its gaping mouth glowed bright with an inner terrible fire. 

Sparks came from out of its mouth, which singed the horsetails around them. The air around it started to distort as it got hotter and hotter. The flame in its belly went into its mouth as it ducked it’s head low and made a sickening crackling growl. Frisk's eyes went wide with shock when they realized that this pterosaur was going to set the entire field on fire. “Don’t do this,” whispered Frisk, “Please don’t do this,” but the pterosaur simply didn’t care. It was going to get it’s prize no matter what, whether they were raw or burnt to a crisp didn’t matter to the beast. 

Frisk braced themselves for the incoming wildfire before they saw the grey pterosaur galloping towards their sibling. They sealed its mouth shut and angrily pointed to the burning forest. The red one chuckled nervously as its sibling’s gaze narrowed in contempt. The two snapped at each other before the red one begrudgingly walked back into the field in defeat.

“I think I know which one is Ahool,” remarked Frisk as Alphys said, “O-okay, but how are you going to get to her?” The Red Pterosaur got dangerously close to Frisk and nearly stepped on them. “Frisk, he's right on top of you?” whispered Alphys, “What’s the plan?” Frisk replied, “I'm working on it,” as they pulled out a burnt frying pan. Flowey looked up and said, “Actually I think I have a better one,” before his face shifted into a crude approximation of Frisk’s.

“You're a genius,” whispered Frisk as the Red Pterosaur nudged them on their side. “I thi…nk it..'s her…e sis,” said the Red Pterosaur as his sibling angrily honked at him. “Wh…at if you we…ren't such a pac…ifist then you'd g…et your vo…ice back as w…ell.” He looked down before saying, “Bu…t re…gardless le…t’s end this litt…le cha…rade, once and for all.” 

Frisk readied their frying pan just in case the beast snapped at them. The air was tense as the Mato slowly lowered his beak to the human. They shifted their stance as their hands trembled with both fear and anticipation. Sweat poured from their head as they looked up at the beast’s open maw. The human looked over and saw Ahool paralyzed in shock, not even could believe what was about to happen. “Come on Flowey,” thought Frisk, “you need to enact that plan now.” There was a brief silence, before Mato roared and attempted to strike at Frisk. Though right before his beak struck the teenager, he was struck in the back with a flurry of white pellets. 

He looked back and saw a light face with the same expression as his target. “The…re are you little co…ward,” yelled Mato as he rushed to Flowey. The flower easily dodged his attack and began a little game of wack a mole, with himself as the mole. Mato was easily outmaneuvered and distracted as Frisk ran out of the field. He only saw a small glimpse of Frisk before they ran into the woods. “S…is,” said Mato, “Catch the o…ther one.” She nodded before running immediately after Frisk. Honestly, part of her couldn’t believe how lucky she had gotten. After all, her brother just revealed his identity through that flame breath, and that was presumably the reason why they were so scared of her. So without that mistaken identity, and without an antagonistic twin brother to hold her back, there was nothing stopping Ahool and Frisk from meeting up with each other. There was nowhere else for the teen to hide, and now there was finally no reason to so.

The human ran about a thousand feet before catching their breath yet again. “I wonder when Ahool is going toooooooo,” exclaimed Frisk as they were immediately swept off their feet by the pterosaur. She held them in her beak like they were a piece of tofu, with their arms and legs dangling off the sides as they were slowly lifted into the air. “Ahool what are you doing?” yelled Frisk as she carried them away like a disobedient lion cub. The forest became a blur as she ran faster and faster with Frisk’s body clamped in her jaws. Thankfully, she soon found a source of water and lowered the teen down to the ground. As they slowly got up, Ahool looked over them like a hawk. She covered their body from any potential prying eyes with her long wings. “Not that I don’t appreciate the help, but what are you doing?" asked Frisk as Ahool slowly walked to the river. She took several gulps of water, before honking in frustration, it almost sounded like she was trying to say something. 

Frisk cupped their chin as they said, “Wait are you trying to recover your voice?” as Ahool nodded. She poked Frisk's side as they exclaimed, “Woah, woah, woah, I saw what your brother did, don't use me to get it back.” The pterosaur shook her head and more deliberately poked Frisk’s travel bag. “Oh you want something in here,” said the human as Ahool nodded her head. “Let’s see, I don’t think I have a lot of stuff in here but…” said the teen before finding the mushroom soup. Despite it being made nearly an hour ago, the canister was still quite warm. If anything could cure Ahool’s voice, this was the meal to do it. “I-is this alright,” asked Frisk as the large pterosaur nodded her head. “A-alright, just remember I’m not part of the soup,” said Frisk as they hesitantly poured it into Ahool’s mouth, “Is that better?” The pterosaur gulped down the soup before tapping her tongue against the roof of her mouth, before saying, “Absolutely.”

She cracked her neck while exclaiming, “Woo, it feels so good to talk again. Woo, Hoo, Ooo, Ah, Hahaha, my sounds they’re all back,” sang Ahool. She wiped away the tears in her eyes before looking down at Frisk. “I guess I should thank you," said Ahool, “That soup really did the trick.” The teen replied, “Well I’m happy to help a friend,” before Ahool grabbed them by the arm. “By the way, I know I wasn’t able to tell you my coat color, but come on, did you seriously think I was the red pterosaur?” Frisk replied, “Well how was I supposed to know?” as Ahool laughed as she said, “Simple, I’m a girl.” The human stammered, “Y-yeah so? I’ve seen women who wear red before,” As the pterosaur explained, “Well female Quetzalcoatlus have duller colors and smaller crests than the males. So honestly it should have been pretty obvious who I was.” 

Frisk had to admit that her logic was pretty sound. Compared to her father and especially to her brother, Ahool’s plumage was notably plainer. The stormy cloud-like feathers were nothing compared to Mato's bright red or Ropen's deep navy blue. If their behaviors weren’t enough of a giveaway, they could’ve used their plumage as a way to determine who was who. Frisk was mentally kicking themselves in the face for not noticing the correlation between her family and birds. “I'll try to keep that in mind,” said Frisk as Ahool added, “Please do, it will cause a lot less headaches in the future, or eyestrain.” She rubbed her eyes to get rid of the pain from the ultraviolet stone from earlier. The pterosaur noticed Frisk looking up at her sympathetically before saying, “I'll be okay, Frisk, it’s just a little bit of eye irritation.” 

The human nodded before saying, “If I can find you any eye drop medicine, I’ll give it to you.” Ahool weakly chuckled as she said, “Wow, you’re a little people pleaser aren’t you? Sorry if that was a bit rude, but it feels like a bit much.” Frisk meekly said, “Hey I was just trying to be helpful," as the pterosaur replied, “I know but this whole eyestrain isn’t a big deal, I’ve experienced much worse in my past.” She looked at Frisk more closely before asking, “Anyways let’s change the subject. Since we were talking about the differences between male and female Quetzalcoatlus earlier, I’ve gotta know, what are you?” The teenager replied, “Umm, I’m a human,” as Ahool replied, “Oh please don't be coy, you know what I meant. Are you a boy or a girl?” 

She paused as Frisk clearly looked uncomfortable with the question as she asked, “D-did I say something wrong.” Alphys’s drone hovered around her and claimed, “Well Frisk isn’t either, they aren’t a boy or a girl.” Ahool tilted her head as she said, “That doesn't make any sense to me, I mean you’ve gotta be one or the other right?” Frisk explained, “Well you know Marshall right? They aren’t a boy or a girl either, it’s kinda, no, it's exactly like that.” Ahool tilted her head as she said, “Huh, I thought that was only a monster and darkner thing, well you learn something new every day.” She loosened herself up before saying, “Well with that out of the way, let’s get you out of here.”

She lowered her head and motioned for Frisk to get onto her back. “So have you ever flown before?” asked Ahool as Frisk replied, “Only in airplanes and it’s still pretty new to me.” The pterosaur laughed as she said, “Hahaha, I have no idea what those are but at least you’re familiar with the air.” The teen replied, “I mean this is still a bit different,” as they nearly climbed on her back, only to hesitate at the last moment. As much as they wanted to get out of here, they couldn’t leave yet. They didn’t know if Marshall or their camp was okay, and the same applied to Flowey. Even if that little flower could be the absolute worst to them, they weren’t going to leave him down here. Especially not under the care of Ahool’s brother, or god forbid Ropen.

“C-can we wait a bit,” said Frisk, “I just want to make sure everyone is okay before I go.” Ahool replied, “Are you worried about Marshall and their camp?” as Frisk nodded their head. The pterosaur sighed, “Look Marshall and their campmates are quite tough, I bet they can rebuild a wall in no time.” Frisk looked back as they said, “I know, but they’re not the only people I’m worried about… Besides, I heard some dinosaurs roaring last night and if they got into the camp I-” As their pterosaur companion replied, “The only dinosaurs that roam around there are Dilophosaurus. Don't worry outside of the big ones, they're aren’t really a threat, and even they can be scared away with enough effort.” 

She looked back at them and said, “Look if it makes you feel any better we can simply fly over there and observe the damage. Though I'm telling you they're fine.” Frisk looked hesitant before climbing onto Ahool’s back. It felt like a soft cottony pillow, as their hands and legs fell into the fluff plumage. “Are you sure we'll be okay,” asked Frisk as the pterosaur replied, “Umm, probably. As long as Marshall and that little imposter managed to shake off my family, then we should be A-okay.” The teen replied, “Alright, if you say so,” before Ahool launched into the air.

Most people would consider riding on the back of a dragon or pterosaur a dream come true. After all, who wouldn’t want to soar across the skies on a mighty steed? Unfortunately Frisk quickly realized their reality didn’t reflect this awe-inspiring image. They had no harness, they had no goggles, and there was nothing protecting them from the incoming turbulence. The only safety net they had was Ahool’s soft plumage and long neck. They held on for dear life as the young pterosaur flew further and further into the sky. 

After a while Ahool looked back at them and asked, “You doing alright back there? You're hanging on pretty tightly.” Frisk shakily replied, “I'm fine, I'm fine,” before leaning in to avoid the winds. Ahool rolled eyes as she said, “Is that so? In that case, you wouldn't mind if I do this right?” Frisk apprehensively asked, “Do what?” before Ahool spread her wings out spun into an Aileron Roll. The human screamed at the top of their lungs as they desperately clung onto the pterosaur's back. It felt as if their grip loosened for a single moment, they would have been swept off in an instant. “So, are you still doing good?” smugly said Ahool as Frisk queasily groaned, “no…”

“Well at least you’re being honest,” said Ahool as Frisk held their mouth shut. “Hey perk up, we’re almost at the camp,” added the pterosaur, “With any luck they’ll have a welcome party for us.” Frisk raised an eyebrow as they said, “Are you being serious?” as Ahool replied, “Oh no they’ll throw me into a fancy cell, but they might be happy to see you.” As she said this, Frisk asked the pterosaur, “And you’re okay with this?” Ahool shook her head as she said, “No but it’s honestly been a long time coming. I might be on the path of recovery now, but I did a lot of terrible things when I still followed my father. I can save as many people as I can, but that won’t change the past.” She got quiet before adding, “Besides, I did kinda bust up their little tents so they have a reason to be angry with me.” Frisk replied, “Well I bet when you explain yourself, they’ll let you off easy,” as Ahool replied, “Not everyone’s the forgiving type kid.” 

Both Ahool and Frisk saw smoke in the distance as they got closer and closer to the camp. “Alright we get in, confirm that Marshall is still alive, and get the heck out of there,” said Ahool as Frisk nodded back to her. Though as she continued to fly, Ahool heard something approaching her. It sounded like the heavy wing beats of another pterosaur, did her father find her in the air? No he was probably licking his wounds after his fight with Marshall, there’s no way that it could be him. Was it her brother? Who was infamous for his uncaring attitude and penchant for messing with her? 

Ahool soon got her answer as a fireball streaked right beside her. “Ahool what’s going on?” asked Frisk as the pterosaur replied, “Hey Frisk you know that imposter?” They nodded their head as Ahool replied, “I don’t think they did a good job distracting my bro.” As she said this, Frisk looked behind her and saw Mato flying right behind them furiously flying behind them. His mouth was sparking with embers as he raced to the three of them. “He’s gaining on us!” said Frisk as Ahool’s body suddenly tensed up. She said, “In that case, you need to trust me, the only way we’re getting out of this is with some evasive maneuvers. Do you trust me?" A fireball raced beside them as Frisk answered, “I trust you more than him.” Ahool nervously replied, “In that case, here goes nothing.” 

As Mato shot several fireballs at the pair, Ahool immediately turned as fast as she could and flipped Frisk in the air like a pancake. They screamed before Ahool quickly caught them with her wings. She cradled them like a baby, before she started to careen into the undergrowth. The human held onto the pterosaur’s fluffy chest as they felt themselves falling closer and closer to the ground. Though right before the two of them could turn into a puddle, Ahool opened her wings and quickly slowed their descent. She flapped her wings right over the ground to make her landing as safe as possible.

As she landed back on the ground, Ahool desperately looked around for anything that could hide Frisk. Even if they were very small compared to her family, it wouldn’t be hard for those two to find them. With a deep violet striped vest and golden tan complexion, Frisk would stand out even in a crowd of humans, let alone this jungle. If they were going to hide, then they needed something that could cover every single inch of them. If even a single hair was visible, then the game would already be over. Thankfully Ahool soon found something that could do the trick. It was a large old log, small enough for her to carry around, but still big enough for Frisk to crawl into.

“Hide in here,” said Ahool as Frisk stepped back apprehensively. “Are you sure that’s safe,” asked Frisk as Ahool replied, “Come on, we don’t have time, crawl. In. the. log.” The human let out a small sigh before effortlessly climbing into the log with a resolute look on their face. “You didn’t answer my question,” said Frisk as Ahool replied, “Well it’s not like we can just sit back and chat. My brother knows where the two of us are and it's only a matter of time before he lands in that clearing.” 

Frisk replied, “I know but what if he tries to set us on fire again?” Ahool replied, “In that case I’ll throw this log down that hill, that should be a good Hail Mary.” Alphys interjected, “Ms.Ahool, I’d rather my drone not get busted again, it was only fixed about an hour or two ago.” The pterosaur replied, “You know, It seems like you’re having trust issues,” as Frisk claimed, “Well she has a point, we didn’t get here in the safest manner after all. Ahool crossed her wings and replied, “Hmph, you know if I didn't dive down here then you both would have been toast, very, very burnt toast. At the very least it’s better than what my dad would do to you.” Frisk replied, “Yeah, that’s certainly the truth,” as Ahool claimed, “Oh trust me, you don’t even know the half of it. Have you ever heard of crop milk?” 

“I-isn’t that when a bird pukes up a meal for it’s chicks?” asked Alphys as Frisk gagged from the implications. “Yep,” said Ahool, “It’s as disgusting as it is infantilizing.” The teen replied, “You know, I think I’d rather be burned alive than hear any more about this.” As they said this, Frisk heard a loud thud in front of them. “Good idea,” whispered Ahool before putting her left hand on the log. “Now I want you to stay quiet, if you make a single peep my brother will find you,” said Ahool.” Frisk zipped their mouth shut and crawled backwards into the darkness of the log. “That will do,” said Ahool before she awkwardly exclaimed, “H-hey bro, long time no see.” Her breath was panicked as she waited for a response, but her brother hadn't moved. With smoke billowing from his nostrils, he simply smiled upon seeing his sibling. 

“Hello Sister,” said Mato, “I can see that your voice is back, you know I didn't p-think you had it in you.” Ahool replied, “W-what are you…?” Before she realized that the only way that Mato thought she could recover her voice was by consuming another animal. So she nervously claimed, "O-oh yeah, I just killed a large rodent a little bit ago. It wasn't anything spectacular but it was big enough for me,” Mato walked towards his sister and said, "Interesting… By the way, you’re not playing hooky are you?” As Ahool replied, “W-what, m-me, playing hooky? Nonono, you’ve got the wrong gal here.” 

“Right, because it's not like you were taking a little flight with a little purple thing on your back,” knowingly said Mato. She saw her brother’s smile grin from ear hole to ear hole as she said, “T-that wasn’t a game. After I caught the rodent, some Drepanosaur leaped down from the trees and attacked me.” Her brother burst out laughing as he said, “A Drepanosaur? Sis that was way too big to be a Drepanosaur, I think we have an imposter on our hands.” He started chuckling as he looked down to his left hand. “Speaking of imposters…” said Mato as Frisk covered their mouth, “This guy… is an absolute riot!” 

He picked up the annoyed flower and shoved it in front of his sister’s face. “Put. Me. Down…” grumbled Flowey as Mato awkwardly did so. Ahool tilted her head while saying, “He’s got quite the temper on him,” as Mato laughed, “Yeah he does, kinda funny don’t you think?” His twin sister looked off to the side as she sarcastically said, “Sure…….” before asking, “By the way does he have a name?” Mato gleefully answered, “Of course, this little guy is named Flowey,” before leaning in and saying, “Stupid name I know.” Flowey loudly objected, “Hey it's better than motto,” as Ahool explained, “Actually his full name is Kongomato, we just call him Mato for short.” Awkwardly Mato claimed, “A-anyway I really like this little flower. He’s like the little brother I never had, actually that might be a bit too close.” He put a finger on his chin and exclaimed, “Hmm, cousin! Yeah that seems more right.” 

Flowey groaned as he said, “Ugh you know, you're really pushing it.” Mato laughed, “Oh please, you talk as if I have a filter.” He leaned over to his side as he asked, “Sooooo Sis, have you seen our p-target?” Ahool worriedly shook her head, “Nonono, I think they lost us,” as she stood above the log. “Hmm, didn't know they'd be that crafty,” said Mato, “Maybe Flowey was telling the truth about them…” The flower replied, “I told you they weren’t a dumb animal, they’re just a dumbass.” Mato rolled his eyes before he noticed that Ahool was guarding a large log underneath her wings. 

Now, Mato knew that his sister was probably trying to help the little vermin, after all it wouldn’t be the first time that she tried to save an animal from her father. He never understood why Ahool had developed such a big heart, the two of them were twins and he was as heartless as they came. Perhaps his dad was right and Ahool wouldn’t be able to make it on her own, but he’d rather not entertain that possibility. She was just in her weird teenage phase after all, maybe if he killed this stupid little mammal then maybe his sister would finally return to reason. 

So he said, “You know that's a cool log sis,” before snatching it from underneath her. “W-what are you doing?” asked Ahool as her brother claimed, “Relax Sis I'm just playing with it.” He shifted the log back and forth in his beak, as something knocked around inside of it. The pterosaur tried to shake it out, but the little creature was adamant in staying put. “Put the log down,” said Ahool as Mato replied, “Did you know there's something in here?” Ahool didn’t reply as her brother took her lack of response as an admission for guilt. “Thought so,” said Mato, “Anyway if there is a little creature in this log, perhaps we should break it out.” Ahool exclaimed, “Wait, you don’t need to do that,” as her brother shrugged, “Oh, but I do.” Before he looked over a slope and placed the log on the ground, before kicking it down the trail.

The log smashed into a tree trunk and shattered into a million pieces. As Frisk fell out of the wreckage, they checked themselves for any splinters before they heard Mato's gleeful laugh. Before they could run they saw the two pterosaurs surrounding them. “Now isn't this interesting Sister,” said Mato as Ahool replied, “Brother wait, we don’t need to hurt them.” Her brother rolled his eyes as he mumbled, “Wow, Dad was right about you, you really did go soft.” He added, “It’s such a shame too, and I was just about to suggest the bisecting maneuver as well.” Ahool yelled, “I’m not ripping this kid in half,” as her brother stated, “Why are you so defensive of them? It’s just an animal. The only thing important about it is its soul.” 

Ahool claimed, “B-brother, they’re not an animal, they’re a person.” Her brother raised an eyebrow before laughing, “Yeah right, look its pretty clear that they’re just a scared little beast. If they were a person, then Dad wouldn’t have chased them.” Flowey interjected, “Your dad tried to kill them even after they spoke to him,” as Mato said, “Okay cousin, now I know you’re lying. Every animal that can speak is given a cognitive test by my father so we don’t accidentally eat a sophont. If your friend passed the test, then they'd be off the menu.” Before he could continue Frisk exclaimed, “He never gave me a test, he just tried to kill me.” Mato did a double take as Flowey leaned in with an extremely smug face. Mato pushed away the flower before looking back at the human and then his sister.

“Hey sis, did you know about this whole, you’know, p-talking thing?” asked Mato as Ahool immediately nodded. “How did you think I was able to call them?” replied the grey pterosaur as Mato exclaimed, “You were calling them? I thought you were just guiding the little bugger. How the heck do you even have a phone on you?.” Ahool grinned as she moved a patch of her plumage away from her neck to reveal the cellphone. “That doesn’t look secure,” said Mato as Ahool replied, “Well if your pycnofibers were as fuzzy as mine you could do this as well.” 

Her brother narrowed his eyes as he said, “Alright, you can stop gloating now...” He looked guilty down at Frisk and asked, “So you’re sure my Dad didn’t test you?” They quickly nodded as the red pterosaur sighed, “That completely goes against protocol. I know my Dad’s morals have been slipping lately, but this? Ugh, it's a new low.” He sat down and started grumbling to himself, as this whole situation didn’t make any sense to him. His dad wouldn’t blatantly avoid testing the intellect of a new animal, right? They had all made an oath not to attack sophonts, so why wouldn’t he test their intelligence? Everything about this felt so wrong.

As Mato processed these shocking revelations, Frisk hesitantly approached him. They didn’t want to get too close to him, after all they wanted to bisect them a minute ago and now they seemed on edge. Like before, it would only take one wrong move for Frisk to be toast, they had to handle this carefully. So they nervously asked Mato, “Umm, am I free to go now?” The red pterosaur snapped back, “As if, I still don’t know if your little speech is a fluke or you’re actually intelligent.” The human objected, “hey, I can literally talk and text how am I-” before Mato claimed, “Well you know the old saying, the ability to p-talk does not make someone intelligent. Ugh, even if it is a good indicator.” 

He leaned over while saying, “So right now we’re at a standstill, I don’t know if you’re smart enough to be a sophont or dumb enough to be prey. Without the test we can’t know for sure.” Mato stroked his chin before an idea slowly formed in his mind. “Say maybe I could give you the test,” said Mato, “I’ve got the booklet, the answers, and even the winning charm so it should be foolproof. Besides if dad rejects the results then he’ll be even more of a hypocrite, what do you say?” Frisk's face tilted as they thought over Mato’s proposal. On one hand it would probably be entirely useless at convincing Ropen, on the other hand it would convince Mato to spare them. Who knows, maybe it could be fun? “Alright I’ll do your test,” said Frisk as Mato’s face lit up before the teen added, “On one condition. If I pass, you need to fix the damage to Marshall’s village and help me get out of here.” 

Mato tilted his head sideways and asked, “And what if I win?” as Frisk replied, “Then I won’t run anymore…” Ahool's eyes went wide with shock as she whispered, “Frisk what are you doing?” as they replied, “I'm making an ultimatum, Besides, I'm not as helpless as you think I am.” They brandished their burnt pan as evidence. Ahool put her hands on her head as she claimed, “N-no there’s gotta be a better way than this.” Before she knew it, she saw her heartless twin brother shaking Frisk’s hands. “I like the way you think morsel,” said Mato as he breathed a ring of fire around the two of them. Ahool tried to intervene, but the flames were getting too high.

Frisk looked back at their allies and gave them a confident nod. They mouthed out the words, “I’ve got this,” before glaring back at Mato. They got into a warrior's stance as they said, “Alright Mato, give me your worst.” The Red Pterosaur laughed, "Oh p-trust me you wouldn’t like me at my worst.” Their soul flickered as the world around them went dark. The only colors they could see were shades of black and white and the orange glare of the flames. 

“You know if you forfeit at any p-time I’ll roast you until you’re well done.” said Mato as Frisk flinched. “Th-that won’t happen,” said Frisk, “I’m going to beat your stupid test and prove to all of you that I’m no idiot.” Mato chuckled as he said, “Confident are we? You know pride comes before the fall.” He looked over to the onlookers and gave them a cocky smirk. He turned his gaze to Frisk and said, “But you wanted this, didn’t you. If this test ends up killing you, you only have yourself to blame.” The teen nodded as Mato said, “Well in that case, LET THE TEST BEGIN.”