Author's Note: This update came out a bit later than I had originally planned for... But on to more important matters, for those of you who didn't read my message, this chapter and the next have been completely rewritten. I was not proud with how they turned out and didn't want people to be turned away by my initial… I guess 'Lack of Skill' might be correct, though I am by no means skilled in this, I still have much to learn. Also, for those of you who are new, for the first several chapters, The Guardian is a bit of a Gary-Stu, but I have hopefully fixed that in the later chapters. Unless I want to rewrite several chapters and not get a new one out for a very long while, it's going to stay like that. Don't judge too harshly, but definitely judge it. Any feedback is welcome. I hope you enjoy.
A man sits in a large room, sunlight pouring in from above. With a cough and a grunt, he stands, surveying his surroundings.
"Where… am I?" He looks up, only to be blinded by the beams of light from the top of the room. Raising his hands to his face, he gets a good look at his unfamiliar body. His eyebrows scrunch together.
"Who am I…?" He pinches the bridge of his nose, searching his mind for information. "No… No, I'm… I'm… The Guardian… I think… Why don't I remember anything?"
He pauses.
"… Wait… I… I think I was supposed to protect someone… But I don't know who…"
His train of thought is derailed when he hears a groan coming from the middle of the room. He looks over and sees a kid laying on the ground, surrounded by golden flowers. He rushes over, checking them for any wounds, but they seem to be unharmed.
'Did they fall down? How are they not injured? Are they the one I'm supposed to protect…?' The Guardian muses. Looking up, he tries to judge the length of such a fall, but the rays of light are too intense to see the top.
'… Maybe…'
They begin to stir, slowly waking up.
The Guardian instinctively snaps his fingers, his body becoming invisible. He looks down at himself, eyes widened in shock.
"What the-" He stops as the kid slowly sits up, clenching their head and wincing.
'What am I…?' The Guardian thinks as the kid stands up, looking around. They begin to walk towards an exit. Worried, The Guardian follows.
They reach a door with a strange emblem engraved into the stone above it and they walk through. The Guardian decides to watch them from around the corner.
He sees them stopped, watching a single, small, golden flower in the middle of a dark room. They take a half-step back in shock as it turns around and looks at them, a smile plastered on its face.
"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!" This time the kid took multiple steps backwards, away from the talking flower. His smile faltered slightly.
"Hmm… You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha?"
They slowly nodded, their expression relaxing slightly.
"Golly, you must be so confused… Someone oughta teach you how things work around here!"
The Guardian narrowed his eyes at the small flower, suddenly suspicious of its motives.
"I guess little old me will have to do." The flower seems a little too excited about this.
"Ready?" The kid is about to shake their head, but Flowey continues anyway. "Here we go!"
Their SOUL floats out in front of them, illuminating them with a red glow. They glance down at it briefly, but continue to stare at Flowey, fright steadily creeping onto their face.
"See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!" As Flowey is speaking, The Guardian quietly steps into the room, sticking to the shadows. When he finally gets a good look at their SOUL, his eyes widen in shock.
'Is… Is that a determination SOUL…?' He gawks at the bright red heart glowing in front of them. 'Those are immensely powerful… I never thought I'd get to see one in person. Let alone guard a human with one.'
"Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV." The Guardian's attention immediately shifts to the flower at its words.
"What's LV stand for?" Flowey asks for them. "Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE don't you?" The flower doesn't let them answer.
"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" Flowey winks as five pellets are created around him. "Down here, LOVE is shared through… Little white… 'Friendliness Pellets'."
The Guardian casts Flowey an unseen glare before eying the 'Friendliness Pellets'.
'LV isn't something that can be transferred between beings… If they don't dodge, then I'll stop the pellets.' A quiet thrum of energy surges through The Guardian as he prepares a magical attack. He watches the kid, waiting for their action when the pellets fly at them. They take a deep breath.
"Are you ready?" After a moment, they slowly nod and Flowey lunches the pellets at them.
"Move around! Get as many as you can!" They watch the pellets with a determined look on their face, dodging at the last second.
"Hey buddy, you missed them." Flowey's frowning slightly.
'Heh, I like this kid.' The Guardian grins slightly in amusement, but his face quickly returns to being serious when he sees five more pellets appear.
"Let's try again, okay?" He launches the second set at them and they dodge once again. Flowey's frown deepens, anger spreading across his expression.
"Is this a joke? Are you braindead? Run. Into. The. BULLETS!" He pauses before realizing his mistake. "Er… Friendliness Pellets." He launches yet another set of pellets, but the kid dodges again, this time as soon as he fired them.
Flowey's face morphs into a malicious glare and the kid takes a step back. The Guardian begins to slowly and silently walk over to the flower.
"You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer." They vigorously shake their head, but Flowey ignores their silent plea. He surrounds them in an inescapable ring of pellets.
"DIE!" Flowey yells as the ring starts to shrink. The kid crouches down, hiding their face in their knees and trying to make themself smaller. They cry for help.
The Guardian reaches the flower and is about to grab him when a large fireball flies out, seemingly from nowhere, and hits Flowey, knocking him away and barely missing The Guardian. He quickly retreats back into the shadows to avoid being detected as the pellets around the kid disappear.
A large goat-like monster walks into the room, looking for any further danger before seeing the kid sitting in the middle of the room, shoulders bobbing slightly in silent sobs.
"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…" She speaks softly and they look up at her, eyes glossy with a few tears running down their cheeks. They shrink slightly at the sight of the large monster. She holds her hands out placatingly.
"Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down." Her soft, motherly tone seems to relax them. She walks over and puts a comforting hand on their shoulder. After a moment, they turn and hug her, wetting her robe with tears.
Slightly startled, Toriel hugs them back, practically enveloping them in her warm fur. After a few moments, accompanied by the occasional sniffle, she pulls away, smiling at them.
"You are the first human to come here in a very long time… Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." Toriel smiles at them, motioning towards the door. "This way."
The kid follows her out of the room, The Guardian not far behind.
The room that they're led to is a large, open room. Dim purple light streams across the staircases at the other end.
The Guardian is surprised to see a small golden star glowing between the stairs.
'That's… That's not what I think it is… Is it?'
He's shocked to see the kid walk right up to it and touch it. The star glows brighter for a second and time seems to pause with it.
The shadow of the Ruins looms above, filling (̬̻͚͎̗͎̪̞̋̽̎͟N͓͍͍̣̄͠A͑͌͟͏͇̜̝̯̘͈͙̱̼M̵̛̞̼͕͎̭͕̖͔ͯͫEͤ̌̒̿̄͏͎̞̪̤:̢̧͚͇̞̺̖̯͑̂ ̗̦̒ͥͦ́ͮͯ̔͜Ṷ̯̖̜͙͎ͣ͂̈̑́N̰̪̞ͬ̓̈́̽͞͝Ḳ̷͚͚̻̖̳̄́̆̍ͅN̳̗̈̆O͎̮͖̟̯͇̝̺ͨ̂͐ͣ̀̃͠W̧͙̼͚͓͙̽̾ͤ̌̕͢Ń̸̜̩̹̰̹̇̔̿)̢̳̣̜͎͎͎̹̪̿ͪͤͨ̓͟ with determination.
They pull their hand away and it dims, darker than it was before. Time resumes and Toriel, strangely, didn't seem to notice anything.
'Did they just… SAVE? Heh, I can see now why I'm here… They're the most determined being in this dimension.'
"Come along, little one." Toriel leads them into a small room, six pressure plates sit on the ground, a switch mounted on the wall next to a door.
"Welcome to your new home, innocent one. Allow me to educate you in the operations of the Ruins." She turns and walks over the four outer plates and flips the switch. The door slides open.
"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 yourself to the sight of them." Toriel pauses for a moment before leading them out into the next room, a hallway with multiple switches on the far wall.
"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip." Toriel swiftly moves to the other end of the room and the kid goes to the first switch, which has an arrow pointing at it, and flips it.
They move to a set of switches, one of which has another arrow. They flip that switch and Toriel claps as a quiet metallic scraping noise can be heard, drawing The Guardian's attention.
"Splendid! I am proud of you, little one. Let us move to the next room." The kid follows her out, but The Guardian pauses at the doorway, looking at the flooring. It's metal, many holes are cut into it. Looking closer, he can see the incredibly sharp tips of…
'… Spikes? What the hell are these here for? They could seriously hurt someone.' He muses briefly before following them.
"As a human living in the Underground, monsters may 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." Toriel quickly adds, noticing their worried expression.
"Practice talking to the dummy." She motions toward a practice dummy sitting in the corner.
The kid approaches it, their SOUL floating out once again as they enter a FIGHT. They see four translucent buttons appear in front of them, 'FIGHT', 'ACT', 'ITEM', and 'MERCY'.
They place their hand on 'ACT' and the option 'Dummy' comes up. They select that and are presented with two more options, 'Check' and 'Talk'. They choose 'Talk' and they ask how the dummy's been doing.
… It doesn't seem much for conversation…
(̬̻͚͎̗͎̪̞̋̽̎͟N͓͍͍̣̄͠A͑͌͟͏͇̜̝̯̘͈͙̱̼M̵̛̞̼͕͎̭͕̖͔ͯͫEͤ̌̒̿̄͏͎̞̪̤:̢̧͚͇̞̺̖̯͑̂ ̗̦̒ͥͦ́ͮͯ̔͜Ṷ̯̖̜͙͎ͣ͂̈̑́N̰̪̞ͬ̓̈́̽͞͝Ḳ̷͚͚̻̖̳̄́̆̍ͅN̳̗̈̆O͎̮͖̟̯͇̝̺ͨ̂͐ͣ̀̃͠W̧͙̼͚͓͙̽̾ͤ̌̕͢Ń̸̜̩̹̰̹̇̔̿)̢̳̣̜͎͎͎̹̪̿ͪͤͨ̓͟ Won! They earned 0 XP and 0 Gold.
"Ah, very good! You are very good." Toriel gives them a smile and leads them ahead.
"There is another puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it?" She leads them into a narrow hallway, but doesn't notice a Froggit hop towards the kid, initiating a FIGHT. Their SOUL promptly floating out in front of them, the buttons returning as well.
Froggit attacks!
ACT, Froggit, Compliment.
It doesn't seem to understand what they said, but was flattered anyway.
Toriel rushes over, giving the Froggit a stern look. It shrinks a little under her gaze and hops away.
(̬̻͚͎̗͎̪̞̋̽̎͟N͓͍͍̣̄͠A͑͌͟͏͇̜̝̯̘͈͙̱̼M̵̛̞̼͕͎̭͕̖͔ͯͫEͤ̌̒̿̄͏͎̞̪̤:̢̧͚͇̞̺̖̯͑̂ ̗̦̒ͥͦ́ͮͯ̔͜Ṷ̯̖̜͙͎ͣ͂̈̑́N̰̪̞ͬ̓̈́̽͞͝Ḳ̷͚͚̻̖̳̄́̆̍ͅN̳̗̈̆O͎̮͖̟̯͇̝̺ͨ̂͐ͣ̀̃͠W̧͙̼͚͓͙̽̾ͤ̌̕͢Ń̸̜̩̹̰̹̇̔̿)̢̳̣̜͎͎͎̹̪̿ͪͤͨ̓͟ Won! They earned 0 XP and 0 Gold.
They continue through the hallway and Toriel stops in front of the next puzzle. It is, much to the surprise of the kid and The Guardian, a small bridge of nothing but spikes.
The kid gawks at the large, immensely sharp spikes for a few seconds before tugging on Toriel's robe.
"… This is the next puzzle, but… Here, take my hand for a moment." She reaches a hand out and, after a moment's hesitation, they grab it, eying the dangerous spikes.
She slowly leads them towards the spikes, which retract as she nears, following a zig-zag pattern across. Once across, she turns to face them.
"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now…" Toriel leads them into the next room.
Realizing that he's still on the other side of the spikes, The Guardian lets out an annoyed sigh.
"… Ah, hell. I'm not gonna risk getting stabbed. I just hope they don't hear this." He whispers to himself. He slowly snaps his fingers as quietly as possible and a buzzing sensation swirls around his body before he disappears in a flash of light, reappearing at the other side with a whoosh. He winces at the volume, but luckily, it doesn't seem anyone heard him.
The Guardian follows them into the next room, which is a very long, empty hallway that's dimly lit. The end of the room isn't visible.
"You have done excellently thus far, my child." Toriel congratulates them, eliciting a giggle and a smile.
"… However… I have a difficult request to ask of you." Their smile drops almost instantly.
"I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself." The kid stares at her, confused, while The Guardian has to keep himself from laughing at her unnecessary tension.
"… Forgive me for this." Toriel swiftly turns, rushing off into the darkness. The kid's expression shifts to one of fear at her words, The Guardian's immediately turning serious.
'Ah, crap.'
The kid takes a few steps forward, waiting for something to suddenly pop out at them. The Guardian prepares his powerful magic, cautiously moving forward…
Author's Note: Amusingly, in the first version of this, The Guardian just somehow knew their name at the start. There was no explanation for it and when I realized it, I face-palmed.
… It hurt.