Disclaimer: I had no intent on writing another story while I still have one in the works, but reading dozens of stories can generate ideas. In the end, this story was born.
Andrea/Andy is my own character, anything else belongs to Toby Fox.
"Speaking"
Thinking
Saving
Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth: humans and monsters.
The two species lived together in peace, and there was hardly ever any conflict. But besides their obvious physical differences, there was something else that greatly separated them..
A monster's soul made up their entire body, making it very weak. Because of this, the moment a monster dies, their soul disappears, and they turn to dust.
The only exception were what they called 'Boss Monsters', as their souls could remain after death, but not for very long.
A human's soul though, resides inside a physical body, so their physical attacks are much stronger than that of a monster. Every human has a certain quality to there soul that makes them who they are, whether it's kindness, perseverance, or the most valued of all, determination.
However, one day, war broke out between the two races.
The reason why had since been long forgotten, but some believed it may have been because monsters and humans could absorb each others souls. A human with a monster soul was not worth much as it took hundreds of monsters souls to equal the power of one single human.
A monster with a human soul on the other hand, would change them into a terrifying beast with unimaginable power, and make them unstoppable. The humans, scared of this idea, declared war against them.
After a long battle, the humans were victorious. Countless monsters were killed, yet no human soul was taken.
The only kind act that came out of the war for the monsters was that the humans had gathered seven magicians to create a barrier under Mount Ebott, sealing them off from the outside world.
Anything could get in, but only someone with a monster and a human soul could get out.
Many years have passed, and the story slowly faded into just a myth. All that is known now is that anyone who climbed the mountain was never seen again.
This myth is what had driven a young women and her friend into hiking up the mountain one sunny afternoon.
An auburn haired girl slowly made her way through the trees, pushing away the thorn branches that kept latching onto her jeans. She wasn't aware of the branch in front of her until it smacked her in the face. "Ah!"
A young girl wearing a blue and purple striped sweater and shorts ran back through the woods, hearing the teen's shrieking. She stopped at the top of a small ledge, and smiled down at her friend.
"Owww," the older female said, rubbing the side of her face. She looked up and saw she had an audience. "Oh, so this is funny, is it?"
The kid giggled before running down to meet her. "Heh, you're gonna be the death of me one day, you know that?" The teen said affectionately, ruffling their brown hair.
The child shrugged off her question before something caught their eye, and pointed behind the other girl. "Hey, Andy?" She asked quietly. "Can we go check that out?"
The teen turned around and saw a cave hidden behind the trees in the side of the hill. She looked back at the kid, seeing the child nod eagerly. "Fine. But please be careful, Frisk," she warned her, and followed them into the cave.
Andrea, or Andy to Frisk, smoothed out her light blue sweater and took her time in tailing after her friend. She had known the kid for years, the two having grown up in the same orphanage. Frisk, although being nine years old, was never one to talk much. When Andy had noticed this, she had personally taken it upon herself to be the child's voice. Even when she had turned eighteen and was kicked out months before, she always made it her mission to come back to hang out with her closest friend.
Andy came back to reality once she entered the cave. The opening in the ceiling directed sunlight down into a massive hole in the ground, and vines were crawling around the rocky ground, leading into the black abyss.
"Whoa," the teen said in awe. "Um, Frisk?" Andy looked around for the younger child, and noticed she were getting close to the hole, too close.
"Frisk back away from th-" Andy never finished her sentence as she watched in horror as Frisk's foot got wrapped snagged on a vine, and fell into the hole, screaming.
"ANDY!" Frisk shouted as she plummeted into the dark.
"FRISK!" Andy screamed, and leaped into the hole after her without a second thought. The wind whipped her long hair around as she snatched Frisk from the air, holding her to her chest.
"Don't let go!" She cried. The frightened child furiously nodded, and clung to her body.
The two saw the ground speeding up to meet them, and braced themselves. To their surprise, instead of hard rock, they landed on a bed of yellow flowers, cushioning their fall.
"Oof!" Andy exclaimed. She slowly sat up, and released her vice-like grip on Frisk. "Y-you okay, kid?"
Frisk shook her head. "I-I'm fine." Still holding onto Frisk, Andy looked at their surroundings. The light from the hole above them lit up the room, and they could see a path leading around a corner. The teen stood up and took Frisk's hand. "C'mon, kid. We don't wanna be stuck down here forever, right?" Frisk nodded. "Then let's do some exploring."
The two left the flowerbed and walked down the pathway and through the doorway at the end. They entered another small room with a patch of grass and a single yellow flower in the middle of the floor.
"Um… is that flower smiling at us?" The teen whispered cautiously to Frisk, who leaned in to get a better look.
"Howdy!" The flower said in a nasally high voice.
Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! The teen stared in shock, her mind racing. Talking flowers!? The myths about those monsters were real!?
"I'm Flowey, Flowey the Flower!" The plant said.
"Um… hi?" Andy asked.
"Hmmm… You two are new to the Underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused."
"Well…, that's putting it lightly," the elder girl muttered as Frisk watched the flower in fascination.
"Someone ought to teach you two how things work around here," Flowey offered them. "I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"
A glow emitted from the two humans, and two hearts drifted out of them. Frisk's was red, while Andy's was a swirling mix of green and red.
"Golly, I've never seen a soul with two traits before!" Flowey said, watching the teen's soul intently. The teen shielded the heart with her hands, feeling uncomfortable with how the plant was watching it.
"See that heart? That is your soul, the very culmination of your being!" Flowey clarified. "Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."
LV? Andy thought.
Flowey seemed to catch their confusion. "What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you?"
Frisk's smile widened and they nodded their head. Her guardian narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
Something seems off about this…
"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" Flowey said, winking. "Down here, LOVE is shared through… little white… friendliness pellets." He finished as said pellets appeared in front of him, spinning around in a circle.
"Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!" The plant instructed them. Frisk ran towards the pellets, but was held back by Andy grabbing her arm, and pulled her out of their way. Frisk looked at her in confusion.
"Something's off here, Frisk," she whispered to them. "Follow my lead." Frisk seemed hesitant, but slowly nodded.
"O-okay, Andy."
Flowey's happy expression dropped a bit. "Hey buddies, you missed them. Let's try again, okay?"
The pellets appeared again, and Frisk followed her in stepping to the side, their souls followed along with them.
Flowey's face turned into one of annoyance. "Is this a joke? Are you two braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!" His eyes widened at his mistake while the humans narrowed theirs. "Friendliness pellets," he corrected, smiling as he tried to play it off.
Another round of pellets came at them, and once again Frisk and Andy moved out of the way.
The two watched in horror as the plant's smile change into a malicious grin. "You know what's going on here, don't you?" Flowey's voice changed with his expression, melting into a demonic tone. "You just wanted to see me suffer."
Andy grabbed Frisk's shoulders and put herself in front of the child, using herself as a human shield.
"Brace yourself," Andy said.
"Die." The flower cackled as a ring of friendliness pellets surrounded them, slowly closing in. The two humans hugged each other, seeing there was no escape.
Death by flower. Huh. Not exactly the way I had planned on dying, Andy thought humorlessly.
She and Frisk closed their eyes in fear, waiting for Flowey to strike, but opened them when they realized the flower had stopped laughing. Both Frisk and Andy looked up to see the bullets had vanished, and Flowey was knocked away by a ball of fire. A goat-like monster wearing a long purple dress approached them, smiling gently.
"What a terrible creature, torturing such poor, innocent youths," she said as Andy helped Frisk to her feet. Andy still held Frisk protectively, making the goat lady chuckle. "Ah, do not be afraid, my children. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You two are the first humans to have come here in a long time."
"So there's been others before us?" Andy asked hopefully.
Toriel nodded. "Come! I will guide you through the catacombs," she said. "This way," she turned around and started walking to another door. Andy held Frisk's hand as they followed her into another room covered in purple walls. Leaves were scattered in a large pile in front of a balcony, and a yellow sparkle sat in the middle. Before catching up with Toriel, the two walked up to it in amazement. Frisk, being the more curious of the two, touched it. Immediately, a message flashed through their heads. The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination.
"Huh." The teen said, looking down at Frisk. "That's odd. C'mon, kid. We don't want to fall behind Toriel, now do we?"
The girls went up the steps to the side and followed into another room, which had gray panels on the floor and a locked door that led to the next room.
"Welcome to your new home, innocent ones," Toriel told them.
New home? Andy thought. Well, it is better than the orphanage.
"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins." The humans watched Toriel walk over specific panels, pushing them into the ground, and pulled a switch on the wall, opening the door to the next room.
"The ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourselves to the sight of them."
Frisk and Andy nodded in understanding, and followed Toriel into the next room. The teen stopped to look at a poster hanging on the wall.
"Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road. Good advice," she concluded before catching up with her friend.
"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches," Toriel instructed Frisk as Andy caught up to them. "Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip."
Grinning, Frisk ran around the room, pulling two switches with a bunch of yellow arrows pointing at them. Andy walked over to Toriel who stood in front of a row of spikes, blocking off the exit.
"Excuse me, dear?" Toriel asked her. "But how old are you?"
Andy raised an eyebrow at the question. "Eighteen. Is that unusual?"
Toriel smiled gently. "It's been ages since anyone has seen a mature human. Sadly, it's usually children who fall into the Underground."
"That's okay. I've only been a legal adult for a few months now, and I like to think I'm still a kid at heart. Who wants to worry about grown up stuff like taxes anyway?"
Toriel chuckled at her response and watched Frisk run up to them after pulling the second switch, lowering the spikes behind them. "Splendid! I am proud of you, little one! Let us move to the next room," she said as continued down the path. Frisk and Andy hurried after her, and ended up in a room with a training dummy. "As a human living in the Underground, monsters will attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple! When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy."
The two girls looked at each other before walking up to the dummy. Their souls drifted out of them, just like their encounter with Flowey.
"I'll go first," Andy said, and stepped ahead of Frisk. "Hello, dummy! Why, are you feeling okay? You appear to be a little bit stuffed."
Her pun had left Frisk giggling and Toriel laughing like crazy.
"How was that?" Andy asked the monster.
She and Frisk turned to face Toriel, who had managed to calm herself down. "Very good, child. The next room awaits," she finally said and went through the door.
"Y'know, Andy," Frisk said. "You always did say you wanted to go on an adventure."
"Yeah." The teen giggled and wrapped an arm around the kid. "Looks like we finally got one."
And thus ends Chapter one!
My plan for this story is to update whenever I have a new chapter ready, which may sometimes take a while as I have another story in the works too. But I'm sure I can manage.
Until next time!
Angel