Core Issues: Season Three

by Nicolle

Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. G!Sans (who is taking a break from being our narrator) and G!Paps belong to Borurou. Underfell is a community project. This story is copyright to me.

Special Disclaimer: Inktale Sans belongs to Comyet. Calcium Man belongs to Kry and Exekyl. Flowerfell belongs to Sanei.

Special Note: This season will consist of unconnected one shots and will come out on the same schedule as before. Because these are one shots, if you have any suggestions for a future story, a favorite character you want to see again, or even a question that you'd like to see addressed, please let me know!

1. My husband, who is my long suffering beta, asked me to write this one and even told me what the plot would be. So this episode is a gift to him. :)

2. Rated T for language, sexual themes/jokes, and violence.

3. If you are an artist and are so inclined, my beta humbly requests a picture with Cross out fishing on the boat with the shadow of a huge monster under the water.

Ep. 1 - Gone Fishing
(Cross is our narrator.)

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining. The birds were singing.

And Michelle's radiant face was covered in blood.

I sat bolt upright in the tent, gasping, drenched from having sweated through my clothing. I flopped on my back and stared at the roof of my tent.

I hadn't had that particular nightmare since Asriel removed Chara from my head.

I sat up and pulled my shirt off, flinching a little at the scar that ran across my chest. A constant reminder of a day I still wished I could forget. Though now that I didn't have an A.I. constantly keeping me focused on it, the memories were starting to get fuzzy. The nightmare always ended with Michelle's death, though she was the one I'd shot first. I didn't want her to see the rest of her loved ones die.

I finished changing into another shirt, pulled on a pair of pants over my boxers, and laced up my shoes. I had a very vague memory of the reset. Of being a child and seeing Sans for the first time. I'd been completely unaware of the past and Sans had been so distraught that his eye wouldn't stop glowing a bright yellow. Papyrus had completely broken script, falling to his knees, and hugging me close.

I don't remember much else or if I'd journeyed any further.

Blue pulled me aside after Fase had pulled us back, taking me out to a balcony surrounded by a mass of green, the building that housed Fase being completely covered in plants. He looked over the incredibly white and incredibly clean city and took so long I wondered if he'd fallen asleep.

"*i've seen this go two ways. when leaving the decision to me, you grow up, completely free of the past that haunts you. your skelebros keep you as their little brother and you don't face asgore until you reach adulthood. when i give the decision to frisk, any frisk, they pull you back. the part that connects all of you cannot bear to lose you. even for a second." He'd looked over his shoulder at Church and Bones. "*frisk was so distraught battling you she couldn't sleep and often didn't eat. bones named it obsession, but the truth is that every frisk involved was desperate to get you back. it's why red's little sister solved for prime instead of teleporting away."

I'd stared at him, open mouthed, unsure what to say. And eventually realized that I didn't have to say anything.

Crawling out of the tent, I worked on putting breakfast together. I spotted the eye sockets on my right immediately. Damn but the Sans-es who came to check up on me where BAD at stealth. Blue didn't even try to hide. He just napped in the boat while I was out on the lake. At this point, I don't think they're checking up on me as much as they're pranking me.

Yons Lake was large and beautiful, and I had a found a quiet spot to enjoy it. The morning sunlight glittered across the indigo surface underneath a cloudless, sapphire sky. Large trees, full with summer green, hung low to the water on all sides with the exception of a beach about a ten minute walk to the east. Sentinel evergreens reached high into the air like stone guardians on a watch that would never end. The early risers were out in their boats, fishing lines already in the water, while the families camping near the beach still slept.

Church made the best cup of camp coffee I'd ever had, but mine wasn't too bad. I sipped while I sketched the dream I'd been enjoying before the nightmare interrupted it. Michelle dancing at her brother's wedding, face glowing, eyes filled with joy.

I hadn't seen her face when she'd died. She wasn't facing me when I pulled the trigger. I didn't turn her over to see the damage I'd done. She died not knowing that I killed her.

I shut the sketchbook with a snap. Time to get to work.

After cleaning up breakfast, I loaded my gear in my little, all purpose, fishing boat. It was black with a big red swish on the side, and perfect for those days when I just wanted to do nothing in the middle of nowhere. I wondered if I would be the only one 'hunting' the waters today. It was Saturday, so I was willing to bet at least two more people would be out for the same reason I was. And we could always identify each other, regardless of whether or not our particular equipment was on hand. It was a strange giddiness around eyes that knew better and the anticipation of a truly big catch. That would make the hours spent chasing something that didn't exist feel less like madness and more like fun.

"*where's your fishing license, piss ant?"

I tipped my hat back and looked up at Red. He was in his standard red shirt, black shorts with yellow stripe, red high tops, and fur lined, black leather jacket. I glanced to my right. The eye sockets were still there, watching. What if there's only one Sans watching me this entire time and I'm over thinking it? It would explain the poor stealth skills.

I secured my equipment in the boat. "Hey, Red. Babysitting me today?"

He snorted. "*nah. sugar blossom said you were out here hunting lake monsters and that i had to see."

I hopped from the dock into my boat. "You're welcome to tag along."

Red shrugged, but I could see it in his crimson eye sockets. After lifetimes spent chasing mathematical impossibilities, he wasn't going to let the logical fallacies of pseudo-science, or his dislike of me in general, keep him from getting in the boat. He stepped on without hesitating.

"*what's our procedure?"

"Start at the west end of the lake bed and scan going east. My equipment has great depth range, but terrible width. It'll take several passes before we get a picture of the lake bed."

"*then get us in gear."

I pulled the boat out into the water, heading for the west end of the lake. "Has your sister decided about school yet?"

"*she's accepted the princeton offer for their cosmology program." Red smirked. "*that interview was a fucking riot! those poor bastards came into the lab expecting to meet a distinguished monster. instead they got an eighteen year old girl with florescent pink and orange hair who told them flat out that princeton only made the top of her list because if she got too bored with the cosmology work, she could also pick up courses in string theory and plasma."

His smile. "*when one of them called foul, she used magic to summon a model of his most recent experiment and explained in excruciating detail how it was wrong. that was all it took for them to fall all over themselves to get her to sign the paperwork." He sighed as he knelt. "*later she told me that she stopped before she could explain to the guy that he should feel bad for being wrong. the universe gives me the sweetest girl in the world and i've managed to turn her into a cheeky brat."

"That doesn't count as a win?"

Red eyed me. "*ass. your equipment calibrated?"

"Not since yesterday."

"*on it."

"How did Frisk manage to get into New Home U at such a young age? I'm not saying she didn't belong there to start. I just want know the story."

Red carefully tuned the scanner. "*that's my fault actually. i was such an asshole back in new home high the principal said that while she had been obligated to deal with me when i was a student, she wasn't going to look at my skull during a parent teacher association meeting. so she sat frisk down with the university entrance exam. and that exam is rough. i remember taking it and thinking that the test maker was fucking insane. she aced the exam and new home u was happy to have her."

He sat back on his haunches watching the scanner read out. "*it was honestly a really good move. several of the students formed a group to help her maintain a normal social life that was age appropriate. we're calibrated."

I pulled my boat around for the first pass, water lapping lightly at the sides of the hull.

"*you know we aren't gonna find anything."

I snorted. "Of course not! But we might find something else."

"*i'll bite. what else?"

"The day I got here a bunch of little kids were jumping around about seeing the lake monster. Ten of them. They said it's head was bigger than any of them were tall and it was white. All ten described the exact same thing." I picked up my water bottle and took a sip. "That night, four boats were overturned by the north docks. The north docks are where the big yachts are moored. My first full day here there were no disturbances, but my scan picked up this."

I tossed him a rolled up sheaf of paper. He opened it and looked at the obvious impression of a large creature against the lake bed.

"When I saw that, I went diving to look for it but only found depressions in the mud where it had been sitting. My second day here, two separate fishermen had lines from boat rigs snap. Both said whatever they initially caught, dragged their boats around before the line cut. The third day out, a family reported seeing a giant head peaking out of the water. The mother described a head that was gray on top and white on the bottom with big, empty eyes. And it doesn't match any of the descriptions of the legendary lake monster that people actually come here to look for. Yonsy, monster that's supposed to be at Yons Lake, is a giant octopus."

"*holy shit. there's something out here."

"There's something out here."

Red chuckled. "*let's see if I can get this scanner to give us better range." Something caught his eye socket. "*check it out. the retirees are out fishing today."

I let off the throttle and had a look at the shore. Church's mother and Asgore were heading out for their Saturday fishing date. Grace was tall and lean and brown from years of being out in the sun as a landscaper. Neatly dressed in khaki shorts and a floral Hawaiian button down, I was pretty sure she didn't actually own a skirt. It was the complete opposite of her daughter, who didn't seem to know what pants were off duty. Asgore matched Grace's attire, though that was very likely accidental. The retired goat king had a serious collection of Hawaiian shirts.

Red gave them a wave. "hey there, sugar lips!" He dipped his skull slightly to Asgore. "*your highness. how's retirement treating you?"

Grace brought the boat along side mine. "Nice now that my daughter is too busy being pregnant to rush into danger."

I rolled my eyes. "I can't tell if that's a swipe at me or just a general comment."

Grace smiled. "I'm not back handing you, Frisk. She ran into danger long before you you were involved." Grace reached across the water to tug on Red's sleeve. "So what are you two doing out here? Chasing lake monsters?"

"*Yes," we both said.

Asgore looked at Grace and then at me. "The one with the gray white head and long neck?"

"*that's the one."

Grace elbowed Asgore. "I told you something was out here."

My jaw dropped. "You're one of us?"

"Yes." She looked at Asgore for a moment. "Don't tell my daughter."

"I'm just worried it's a monster causing trouble."

Red smiled wide. "*come on, your highness! we would never do that!"

Asgore raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching as he fought a smile. "Sans."

Red held up both boney hands in mock surrender.

Grace clapped her hands once, blue eyes reflecting the glitter of the water's surface. "Let's get started! We're heading up to the north docks. We'll call if we find any..." She trailed off and we followed her gaze. A massive black shadow passed under our boats. It pulled a blue and gray fishing boat like mine behind it at a fast clip.

"*oh fuck." Red summoned a bone and sent it through the fishing line dragging the boat. It slowed to a crawl and bumped against Grace's craft. The two teens on board the boat were watching the shadow, eyes wide with fear.

I grabbed my snorkel, but before I could jump in, the monster bucked up against my boat, sending Red and I to the deck. I grabbed the side to get my feet under me just in time to feel the boat heave again. I smacked up against the hull and let the momentum flip me into the water. I grabbed a hold of the nearest piece of the monster and my hand slipped against the slimy surface. The kick up from the lake bed made it impossible to see. I turned and swam for the surface. A tentacle wrapped around my leg in the dark and pulled me down.

A large, gray mass slammed into the monster and it let go of my leg. I kicked for the surface. A hand grabbed my jacket and Asgore lifted me out of the water. He set me on the deck and I coughed out the water I'd swallowed.

Grace knelt in front of me, looking at my leg where my pants had been ripped away. Several circular bruises wrapped around my leg. She touched them gently. "These are suction bruises. Like you get from an octopus."

Red grimaced as he squeezed the water out of the fur lining on his hood. "*you've got to be kidding me. what the hell are we chasing?"

"I don't know." I looked up at Asgore's golden mane and Red's crimson eyes. "Did either of you hit it with a magical attack?"

Asgore shook his head, while Red frowned.

"Something big slammed into whatever grabbed me and knocked it hard enough that it let go."

"Two lake monsters?" Grace shook her head, brown hair swinging. "Yonsy is a myth." She touched my leg again. "Maybe." She pulled out a piece of Church's homemade monster candy, and handed it to me.

I popped the candy before pulling off my jacket. I looked at my boat. It hadn't capsized, which was a small miracle, and my equipment was intact. Though I wasn't sure how much water damage it had taken. The teens sitting in the boat next to us looked relieved to see that the lake monsters were gone, but had no idea what to do now that two real monsters stood on the boat in front of theirs.

Well. Three if you counted me.

Grace sorted the kids out while Red and I hopped back over to access damage. The hull of the ship was fine, but my equipment had taken too much water. "Looks like we're stuck trawling the lake bed." I groaned. "Doing that kicks up too much dirt to see if we actually hit something."

"We can dive it," Asgore said. He smiled. "We can tie a rope to Sans and let him just walk the bottom since he doesn't need to breath."

Red shrugged. "*okay."

Grace eyed him suspiciously. "Okay?"

"*sure. but if i get eaten by a lake monster, you have to tell my brother."

"What about your sister?" I asked.

Red snorted. "*she'll just roll her eyes and access her last save. papyrus is the one you gotta worry about. it's been six years and he's only just gotten over me being at the lab all day."

"Just in time for him to be worried at your sister going to grad school?" I pressed.

Red groaned. "*i have no idea how i'm going to deal with that one." He pulled off his coat and finished drying it with fire magic before tossing it to Grace. "*keep it warm for me, sugar?"

Grace chuckled as she pulled it on. "You're such a hound."

"*nah. that'd be your son-in-law."

Asgore nodded in agreement. "I still find it fascinating that Dr. Gaster had such a facet to his personality."

"*they've all got something. i still can't get over my father's snoopy collection."

I watched Red closely to see if he was lying. "Really?"

He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a storage room from the Lab converted into a small museum of white dogs with black ears and their little yellow bird companions. "*his girlfriend lured him out of the lab to her timeline with a pair of snoopy swim trunks and a snoopy beach towel." Red sighed, smile soft. "*that was a blessedly peaceful week in the lab."

Asgore tapped Grace's shoulder. "I'll moor our boat. You watch the boys."

Grace smiled and hopped over to my craft.

Red grabbed a rope and lifted his red shirt to wind it through his ribs and around his spine. When he was happy it was secure. He tied the other end to the boat and jumped in. I pulled off my shirt and shoes, and followed, snorkel in place. Red sank gracefully to the lake bed, his clothing lifting around him. He landed softly, red high tops gently resting on mud. Shoving his boney hands in the pockets of his shorts, he headed in the direction the shadows had gone.

Lacking the jacket, the red of his shirt muted, you could easily mistake him for Blue in that indigo darkness. They shared the same gait, the same laid back motions. He stopped for a moment and looked around before pointing north. I could just make out something in the haze. I wondered, not for the first time, what any Sans actually saw through their eye sockets.

Surfacing, I pulled my snorkel out of my mouth. "Head directly North."

Asgore and Grace both nodded, turning the boat in that direction. I put my snorkel back in my mouth and swam after Red.

Red stood on the edge of a steep drop off in the lake, waiting for me to catch up. A tentacle shot out of the darkness and wrapped around his leg, jerking him into the nothing. I dived after him only to have the entire area light up a bright candy apple red. Multiple glowing bones illuminated a deep trench in the lake bed and a massive orange and green octopus. Red grabbed one of his bones and used it like a club to smash the tentacle grabbing his leg.

The octopus let go and moved out of the trench, all eight tentacles thrashing. The thing was absolutely huge, making Red look tiny in front of it. This thing could easily smash any boat on the water. Red hung there in the glow, content to dodge each attack while using his bones to block. I used his distraction to surface for a breath and dive again. I swam around the back. It was too big to attack and it'd see a swipe at it's eyes before I could connect.

It caught sight of me and grabbed my legs, pulling me down fast. A white and gray mass shot over me, grabbing the octopus with it's claws. Big, boney claws. A boney tail with a sharp spike on the end swung over my head.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

The octopus let go and I surfaced, lungs burning. I dived again and found Red, standing on the edge of the trench, filming the fight with a GoPro.

The octopus and the 'lake monster' thrashed against each other. Tentacles wrapped around the bone dragon's rib cage. The dragon spun in the water like a crocodile with prey in it's mouth, shoving it against the wall of the trench. The octopus splayed out, revealing the hard beak of its insanely large mouth. The tentacles pulled the rib cage toward the beak, only to have the beak smashed by a clawed fist. The tentacles threw the dragon into the mud before wrapping it up again.

They seemed evenly matched in strength but the bone dragon had the advantage of magic. A glowing yellow circle filled with arcane symbols appeared between the two. The dragon's head smashed through the golden seal, coating itself in magic, and biting hard into the octopus' massive, orange head. It let go of the dragon, swimming away quickly.

Red cackled soundlessly under the water, clearly enjoying the spectacle. He jerked his thumb up and we both swum to the surface. Sans popped up next to me in the water, transformed back into his normal, skeleton self.

Red pulled himself up onto the boat. "*well, your highness, it's not one of your monsters playing pranks on the locals."

I looked at my skelebro. "What the hell, Sans?"

He smiled way too big. "*Well, I WAS trying to prank you, but the giant octopus legend turned out to be the real deal."

"*yeah. and i can't wait to show your brother the fight footage!"

"*Oh My God. No. He'll kill me!"

Red laughed while Sans' clavicles sank.

"Please tell me you have something decent to wear," Grace said.

Sans suddenly blushed a bright yellow. I'm not sure how a skeleton monster does that. "Sorry, Mrs. Church!" He reached into the void within himself, pulling out shirt and pants to dress.

Grace took my boat back to the docks. "Now what? We know Yonsy's down there and big enough to be dangerous, but how do we get it out of the lake?"

"*good question. there's a massive trench in the lake bed and it could hide in any part of it. but i'm really curious as to how it even got in there in the first place. this lake has no ocean access and that's a salt water octopus."

"A new species?" Asgore conjectured. "It's rare, but not the first time."

Grace sighed as she put my boat into the slip. "We won't be able to get any help on getting it out from the authorities. Our only proof is Red's video and they'll say it's a CGI get up."

"So why don't we talk to Asriel about it?" I asked. I hopped to the dock and caught the rope Asgore tossed me.

"Yet another thing for my son to deal with," Asgore sighed. "Though I think this may prove to be a nice distraction for him." He offered Grace his arm. "If we hurry, we can still make lunch with Frisk and Bones."

Grace slipped of Red's jacket and handed it to him before taking Asgore's arm. "See you three later!"

I shook my head and started for my camp site, Sans and Red following behind.

"*nice scar. sugar plum give you that one?"

I looked down at my chest, thinking about my answer. "No. My fiance's brother." I sighed, wishing I hadn't left my shirt in the boat when I pulled my shoes back on.

Red didn't follow up. Maybe he'd caught something in my tone I didn't intend.

"So what's with the Sans that's been watching me all week?"

Red looked over at the skeleton hiding, poorly, behind a tree. "*hey inky! what gives?"

A Sans I'd not seen before came out from behind the tree. One eye a blue dot, the other glowing yellow star, he wore a pair of brown shorts and a brown shirt under a dark painters vest and bandoleer of paint and pencils across his chest. An overly long scarf wrapped around his neck while a massive paintbrush hung from his back like a sword. Ink splatter covered his skull. He clutched a tube tightly to his chest, the kind you kept art prints in before framing.

He held the tube out to me, eye sockets squeezed shut. "*please sign this!"

I took the tube, curious to see which print was inside. Was it Calcium Man? The one with the Frisk covered in flowers? I opened the tube and instead of a print, I found a carefully rolled canvas. I shuddered and stared at a portrait of Michelle. The one I'd painted the day I'd proposed.

"*you didn't sign it! and i love it so much that i couldn't just let that be and i know that your timeline is gone and that they'll never be another painting like this and that-"

I held out a hand. "May I borrow a brush?"

"*oh yeah!" He pulled one from his belt, still wet from the last thing he'd painted with it.

I signed the bottom, making sure that my signature didn't touch her.

The little skeleton practically squealed when I handed the painting back to him, dancing happily before disappearing into the void.

Red elbowed me. "*you all right?"

I noticed Sans watching me the way he did when he was worried.

I gave him a smile. "Sure! You can't spell painting without pain."