"I can't believe we're doing this," Undyne groaned, following behind Sans and Papyrus.
"IT'S NOT THAT HUMILIATING, REALLY," Papyrus said, "WE JUST HAVE TO FIND A PLACE TO LIVE NOW THAT WE LEFT ALL OUR HOMES BEHIND IN THE UNDERGROUND."
"you sure you're okay coming with us, kid?" Sans asked Frisk, who was walking behind him. Frisk nodded silently in agreement.
"I am so glad you have decided to stay with us, my child," Toriel chimed in with a smile, patting Frisk on the head. Frisk smiled back.
"According to my phone's GPS, there's a boarding house not too far from here," Alphys said, holding her phone out so the others could see.
"how's the rating?" Sans asked. Alphys' claws clicked against the phone's touchscreen for a moment before she glanced up at Sans again.
"There are no ratings yet," Alphys replied nervously, "Apparently, it's a brand-new place."
"THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE SOME SPACE FOR SOME NEW FRIENDS!" Papyrus piped up, running ahead of the group.
"Hold on!" Alphys called out, running after Papyrus, "You don't even know where it is!"
"that's my bro for ya," Sans said with a chuckle, "always ready to make a few new friends."
Frisk enthusiastically chased after Alphys and Sans, holding their arms out like an airplane. Sans and Toriel both shared a laugh of amusement.
"that kid's really got some energy, huh, tori?" Sans said, gently nudging Toriel.
"They're enthusiastic too," Toriel added, "and such a good child."
"even when they start flirting with you?" Sans inquired, his grin widening. Toriel laughed awkwardly, deciding not to reply.
"That kid flirts with everyone," Undyne butted in, "It's like it's their first reaction when meeting someone new or something."
"AH-HA! HERE IT IS!" Papyrus shouted from around the corner. The three stragglers eventually caught up and saw a large, blindingly colorful building situated at the end of the road. There was a large banner reading "Grand Opening" being hung on the front of the building by a small skeleton girl, who was precariously perched on top of a ladder. Papyrus, Frisk, and Alphys had already reached the building
"HELLO, NEW FRIEND!" Papyrus shouted up to the skeleton girl. The girl whipped her head around to see Papyrus and almost fell off of the ladder in surprise.
"H-holy pineapples!" the skeleton girl stuttered in shock, "Is that Frisk?!"
Frisk waved to the skeleton girl, who quickly descended the ladder to meet her new guests. Sans, Toriel, and Undyne joined them very shortly after. The skeleton girl looked like she was going to faint right then and there, but quickly regained her composure.
"W-welcome to the brand new Zyzzyva Monster Boarding House!" the skeleton girl said with a flourish toward the building, "This is the best—and newest—boarding house in all the world! My name is Lucida and I run the place."
"hey, lucida," Sans replied with a wave.
"He said my name!" Lucida swooned. Everyone stared back at Lucida in awkward bewilderment.
"DO YOU MIND GIVING US A TOUR OF THE PLACE?" Papyrus asked.
"Oh my pineapples!" Lucida squealed with joy before clearing her throat and putting on an air of professionalism, "One tour, coming right up."
Lucida then led her guests into the building. The outside of the building was decorated in garish shades of blue, hot pink, lavender, and lime green, but the lobby was much more conservative on the color usage, having white walls and being decorated with all manner of floral arrangements. There were red-cushioned benches against the walls and a small, round, wooden table in the center of the room bearing only a vase of colorful flowers. The room itself was huge with a vaulted ceiling and a glass-walled balcony about a floor up. Multiple hallways branched out from the room, likely leading to the living areas, and there was a reception counter to one side of the room.
"This place, you'll agree, is truly a marvel," Lucida explained, "There are cafes in the food court on the fifth floor, loads of surprises everywhere you look, and free Wi-Fi."
"YES! WI-FI!" Papyrus exclaimed happily. The others stared at him in confusion.
"Moving on," Lucida said after a moment, "there's so much to see here! Come on, everybody!"
With that, Lucida was off like a shot, racing down one of the hallways. The others tried to keep up, but they eventually lost her.
"Where do you think she went?" Toriel asked, out of breath.
"Hey, Lucida!" Undyne shouted suddenly, startling the others, "Where are you?!"
"Hello, everyone!"
Undyne whirled around to find Lucida standing just behind her. With a gasp of surprise, she reeled back, stumbling into Sans and sending them both to the floor.
"Hiya, Undyne!" Lucida giggled, "Hey, do you like bacon?"
Undyne snarled in anger, pushing herself back to her feet as Papyrus helped up his brother.
"well," Sans said, his expression unreadable, "this is going to be quite the day, isn't it?"
Finally, the tour was over. After six floors of the best Lucida could throw their way, which was quite a lot, to be honest, the five intrepid monsters and their human companion were completely exhausted. The place was filled with all manner of random nonsense, but Lucida introduced it all as if it were commonplace.
"Well, that's it!" Lucida said once they were back in the lobby, "I'll give you guys a little time to decide whether or not you want to stay."
With that, Lucida skipped away to another part of the building.
"Well?" Undyne began hesitantly, which was unusual for her, "What do you guys think?"
"I-I'm fine with anything you decide, Undyne!" Alphys stuttered excitedly, grabbing Undyne's arm and hugging it tightly. Undyne stared bewilderedly at Alphys for a moment before giving in and placing her free hand on Alphys' head, causing the lizard monster to blush profusely.
"It doesn't really matter to me, so much as we can all be together," Toriel said, petting Frisk's head. Frisk nodded silently in agreement.
"I CAN'T PASS UP FREE WI-FI!" Papyrus added enthusiastically, warranting another round of strange looks from the others.
"there's something about lucida," Sans mused aloud, "i can't put my finger on it, but there's something weird about her."
"Like the fact that she's completely insane?!" Undyne butted in.
"there's something more than that," Sans replied, "of course, that's just me. she could really just be a bone-ly little skeleton begging tibia-ppreciated."
"SANS!" Papyrus shouted angrily, "NOW IS HARDLY THE TIME TO BE MAKING TERRIBLE PUNS!"
"i'd like to keep an eye socket on her, though," Sans continued, his pupils fading out, "i have a feeling there's more to this place than meets the eye."
Frisk made her way over to Sans and placed their hand on his shoulder. Sans' pupils returned and his expression softened as he ruffled Frisk's hair with his hand.
"Does that mean we're staying?" Alphys asked.
"OF COURSE IT DOES!" Papyrus answered triumphantly, pumping his fist in the air.
"Fine," Undyne said, sneering, "but when we're all buried in smoking ruin, don't cry about it to me."
"Cry about what?"
Undyne whirled around to see that Lucida had snuck up on her once again. This time, when she reeled back, she stumbled on her own accord, dragging Alphys down to the floor with her.
"I'm glad to hear that you've decided to stay!" Lucida cheered, ignoring the fact that Undyne and Alphys were now lying in a heap on the floor, "We're going to have so much fun here!"
Undyne stretched her arms out, sitting up in bed. She'd gotten a better night's sleep than she thought she'd get. At least the accommodations in this crazy place were decent. Her room was painted dark blue with blue carpeting and the furniture was all painted red. It was like the room was made for her.
Vaulting herself out of bed, Undyne pulled open one of her dresser drawers and pulled out a pair of clothes. She figured she'd try to find out where she could get a shower here. Upon opening the door, though, she found Lucida standing directly in the doorway with a creepy smile on her face. Undyne lunged backward, just barely resisting the urge to summon a wave of energy spears.
"Good morning, Undyne!" Lucida said. She was much too cheery for Undyne's tastes.
"Would you quit sneaking up on me like that?!" Undyne snapped, "It's not funny! It's just creepy!"
Lucida didn't reply, but started laughing instead. Undyne glared at Lucida furiously, her upper lip beginning to twitch. Just then, she noticed something...off. Lucida was laughing at her own joke, but Undyne could have sworn she saw a flash of regret on Lucida's face.
Regaining her composure, Undyne shoved Lucida out of the way to exit the room. Halfway down the hall, though, a sudden, ear-piercing buzz caused Undyne to drop what she was holding in surprise.
"IT'S A FIRE!" Papyrus screamed, bursting out of his room, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"That's not a fire alarm, Papyrus," Lucida said, having followed Undyne down the hall, "That buzzer just tells me when someone is waiting for me in the lobby."
The buzzer, started up again. This time, it didn't stop, making one continuous buzz.
"Well, someone's sure impatient," Undyne sneered.
"Is something happening out here?" Toriel said, peering out of her bedroom door. A sleepy Frisk appeared with her, rubbing their eyes.
"I'll explain on the way downstairs," Lucida said, starting forward, "Come on!"
It wasn't long before all the boarders, including Alphys and Sans, who were particularly hard to wake up, were downstairs in the lobby gawking at who they saw standing at the counter.
"Welcome to the Zyzzyva Monster Boarding House, the newest, greatest boarding house ever!" Lucida said to her new guests, stepping behind the reception counter, "What can I do you for?"
"Give us lodgings! Now!"
"A-pup-pup," Lucida replied, waving her finger discouragingly, "How do you say that?"
"Hmph. Please?"
Sans glanced over at Frisk, who was hiding behind Toriel. They had every reason to. Standing at the counter were Chara and Flowey, the latter being the one that had just spoken. What they were doing here, Sans had no idea, but they were one-hundred percent pure evil. Sans knew exactly what they'd done and he despised them for it.
"All righty, then!" Lucida cheered, seemingly oblivious to the reputation of her new guests, "I'll get you all set up. By the way, I'm Lucida, owner of the Zyzzyva Station."
Sans froze. He could have sworn he felt something pulse within him. He couldn't pinpoint what the feeling was, but it was certainly more ominous than he would have liked it to be. He couldn't wait to confirm his suspicions about Lucida and get himself and his friends out of this place.
"If you have any questions, please, don't hesitate to ask me," Lucida continued, "Unless I'm busy, of course."
"I have a question," Chara piped up, "What are THEY doing here?"
Chara immediately whirled around to face the other beings in the room, their menacing, crimson eyes seeming to glow as they stared them down. Flowey, on the other hand, seemed completely flabbergasted, staring at the others with a shocked expression. That's not what Sans was worried about, though. While the others focused on Chara and Flowey's unexplained appearances at the Zyzzyva House, Sans was more focused on Lucida, who opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it again, looking crestfallen. There was no reason for it, which made Sans all the more suspicious.
There was a long, awkward moment of silence as Chara stared down Frisk and the other monsters. Then, Chara glanced back at Lucida, expecting a response. Lucida jumped in surprise, looking like she was trying to remember something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"O-oh, right," Lucida finally stuttered, "They're here 'cuz they live here too, just like you do now."
"You mean we have to live in the same place as them?!" Flowey exclaimed, butting back into the conversation.
"You mean your arch-nemesises?" Lucida asked. Sans noticed her twitch a bit, if only for a second. Something was wrong.
"Wouldn't that be nemesii?" Alphys pointed out, "No, wait..."
"Maybe neme...me...nem...neme...Nope, I got nothing."
Lucida had completely relaxed upon finishing that last statement. Sans was bewildered.
"Argh!" Flowey shouted, "All I'm trying to say is that I refuse to live in the same building as these idiots!"
"hey," Sans said with a shrug, "it's no picnic for us either, but we've all got to deal with it."
Why did he say that? He knew he could have just told Flowey and Chara to leave, but he didn't.
"Fine," Flowey scoffed, "Doesn't mean I have to like it, though."
"Yay! Problem solved!" Lucida cheered, "Let's go upstairs and I'll show you your rooms!"
With that, Lucida took Chara's free hand began dragging the two psychopaths across the room toward one of the hallways. That's when she seemed to take notice of Flowey's unwilling expression.
"I know exactly what you need, Flowey," Lucida said with a smile.
"What's that?" Flowey replied curiously.
"Bacon."
Flowey's face scrunched up in confusion as he stared back at Lucida.
"Just roll with it," Undyne piped up.
That was when Lucida, Chara, and Flowey left. Shortly after, Sans began to walk away as well.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, SANS?" Papyrus asked, following after him.
"nowhere important," Sans replied, walking faster. He glanced back to see if anyone else was following him. Thankfully, it was just Papyrus.
"ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT CHARA AND FLOWEY?" Papyrus inquired, "DON'T WORRY. I'M SURE WE CAN MAKE FRIENDS WITH THEM TOO!"
"that's not what i'm worried about, pap," Sans responded. If Chara had held themselves back from going genocidal in the lobby, Sans had enough faith in them to assume they wouldn't be attacking any time soon. Sure, Sans would keep watch for them, but that wasn't his main concern at the moment.
"WHAT'S WRONG, THEN?"
"nothing's wrong. i'm just going for a walk, is all."
Papyrus was quiet for a moment.
"ALL RIGHT," Papyrus finally replied, "THAT'S FINE."
Sans kept walking for a little while longer. When he looked back again, he found that Papyrus was now gone. He sighed.
"sorry, pap. i'd love to tell ya what i think is going on, but i just can't. not yet, anyway."