Ladies and Gentlemen, Satoru123 is here with the new chapter of Undertale: LOVE or Die Trying! I hope you enjoy it all. Happy reading!
Chapter 2: Warning Signs
You wake up and see the most peculiar sight, a little Golden Flower, which springs up and smiles at you politely. You jump back a bit spooked as it gives you an energetic "Howdy!"
"Uhh, howdy?" You say back, a bit fearfully.
"I'm Flowey the Flower. Golly, you aren't from around here, are ya?"
"Umm, no? What is this place?"
"The Underground, a place where we Monsters dwell. Anyway, since you seem a little lost, I guess I can provide you with assistance, for a price…" Flowey said, keeping a very cheerful smile.
Suddenly, you see a little red heart shaped object in your chest start to glow brightly. Seconds later, you are floating around, the heart glowing inside of you, with your real body laying down behind you. "Ahh! What's happening! I feel c-cold!" Looking back and seeing your lifeless body, you only become more freaked out. "What did you do to me?!"
"Oh, I didn't explain it well, did I? This is what is known as your SOUL. The very culmination of your being. It starts off weak, but it can grow strong, by gaining LV." Flowey explained, gleefully.
"LV? What's that mean?"
"It means LOVE silly. You want some LOVE, don't ya?"
"Uhh… I guess…" You stammer, utterly confused and nervous.
"Splendid, I'll share some with ya!" The little yellow flower then shot some little white pellets into the air. "Here ya go! Down here, we share LOVE through these little white 'friendliness pellets'. Move around, catch as many as you're able to…" He started to send some of the pellets toward you.
You decide to reach out to grab one, feeling that it shouldn't be too bad. However, once you grab them, your hands start to sting, then a sharp pain rushes through your body. You hit the ground, your SOUL feeling like it's going to rip apart. "What? What just-?"
The little flower's facade vanished and you were meant with a contorted grin of content. "YOU… IDIOT! In this world, it's killed or be killed!" He then surrounded your SOUL with those dastardly pellets. "Die." He then laughed gleefully as the pellets started to close in around you.
You have no place to go, so you start to cry out for help. "Mommy! Daddy! Somebody help!"
"It won't do you any good, child. You should just suck it up and accept your death gracefully!" Flowey laughs.
You scream as the pellets strike you, but rather than feel like you're being torn apart, you instead feel your lost strength returning.
Flowey, utterly shocked just stares, a bit more interested in you. "I'm curious. How in the world did you just do that? What?!" Suddenly, a fireball appears from out of nowhere, striking Flowey, and sending him several hundred feet away from you, out of view.
"What a horrible creature, terrorizing a poor innocent youth." A young Nubian caprine like monster approaches you. She looks to be a motherly figure, in her early forties. You can tell by the slight wrinkles under her eyes, though that didn't mean she wasn't still absolutely stunning.
As she approaches you, you naturally retreat feeling a bit scared. "Who? Who are you?"
"Oh, how rude of me not to properly introduce myself. My name is Toriel. A young child like you should not be out here in the Ruins all alone. Come, I will get you to someplace safe." She offers her hand with a soft warm smile.
You think for a minute, then decide to follow her, taking her hand hesitantly. "O-okay." You two walk along the path to the entrance of the Ruins. As you approach a split staircase, you see a glowing yellow light which you walk up to out of curiosity. Suddenly a bright light surrounds you, engulfing you in a blinding, yet warm and soothing light.
The shadows of the Ruins loom above, filling you with determination.
Ruins Entrance, LV 1 Time: 3:30
File Saved.
Suddenly, you see that Toriel has already proceeded into the Ruins, so you follow in a desperate attempt to catch up to her. The whole walk through is relatively quiet, save for a few questions about who she is, and how did she know you'd be here.
She doesn't say much about her own history, but explains that she was tending to the garden of golden flowers when she saw the spectacle between you and the malicious Flowey. She leads you to a door of some kind with what looks to be some sort of a sequence of buttons. She presses on them with her feet before moving onto the next one, then pulls the lever. "In the ruins, you will see different Puzzles a lot like these. You should keep an eye out for stuff like this. Okay?"
You smile at the goat and nod, slowly finding yourself being able to trust her more. She helps you throughout most of the puzzles like trying to pull levers to lower spikes that block progression to the next room. As you get to the next room, you see a training dummy. "Uhh? What is this, Ms. Toriel?"
"Oh, that is a training dummy, child. Sometimes you may encounter a monster in a FIGHT and sometimes you may have to find a way out of the conundrum in question; as they may try to attack you."
"Attack me? But why?"
"I will explain that a bit later down the trail. For now, my child, just take your time and talk to the dummy, if anything goes awry, I will be there to help you."
"Uhh? You want me to talk to a dummy? Okay…" You said, awkwardly. "So, uhh… come here often?" You stare and kick your foot a little, embarrassed by the fact you're talking to a training dummy. Then you giggle a bit, somehow finding humor in this moment. "Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing here either. It's weird, I just fell down in this hole one day, climbing mountains with my parents. Suddenly I just wound up here, in a bed of these golden flowers. Strangely I feel like I've been here before. If that's odd…"
Toriel looks on as you engage in a full-on conversation with the inanimate object. "Hmm… curious. I have never seen such a friendly, innocent child before, if not a little naive, to be blunt. She sort of reminds me of…"
You laugh and pat the dummy's head. "Well, thank you too, Mr. Dummy. I'm glad I got to meet you too." You then lightly kiss the dummy's cheek.
Toriel couldn't help but chuckle a bit at your silly antics. "Very good my dear. Let us proceed to the next room."
"Okay!" You hum a little tune skipping off into the next room.
"Oy, finally. I thought she'd never leave. That kid is too sweet, it gives me cavities." The dummy thinks, as it moves away. "I knew I should've slept in this morning..."
As you and Toriel approach the next room, she turns to you. "The next puzzle is up ahead." You proceed to follow Toriel to the next Puzzle.
However, just as you reach the middle of the room. You encounter a Froggit. It leaps out at you, trying to spook you. "RIBBIT! (Gotcha!)"
You shriek and fall backward. "What?! What is that?"
"Ribbit ribbit! (Haha! Got you good, didn't I?)"
Unfortunately, for you, all you hear is a bunch of ribbits. "Uhh…? Hi… frog." However, you feel your SOUL plunge out of your body and you stare at the Froggit. "Hey! You scared me to death! I think… anyway, that still isn't nice!"
"Too bad for you kid! Humans! Acting like they're so cute! They're just such foul creatures!"
"Foul? What do you mean? What did we ever do to you?"
"Ahem." A familiar voice starts off.
Froggit looks at Toriel, giving him a very disapproving stare. "Gah! Your Majesty! I uhh-I was just playing around with the kid! That's all, hehehe…" However, the creature starts sweating, either that or secreting mucus, as Toriel leans in closer, her glare only growing colder. "Well, uhh, I'll just-yeah…" He slowly backs away and scampers off.
You race back to your body and wake up gasping for air. You feel your heart beating out of your chest, but other than that, you seem perfectly fine. However, you look up at a sign that reads:
The Eastern Room is the Western Room's Blueprint.
You wonder what the sign means, but you decide to shrug it off when you see Toriel, getting rather anxious. You take her hand and apologize for forgetting about her. However she laughs it off and rubs your head affectionately.
The two of you proceed through a majority of puzzles together. There was eventually one point where you had to go it alone for a little while. After which, since you passed her test, which was to prove your independence, she rewards you with a new Cell Phone. But to be honest, it looked very dated, not anything like the smartphones of your era. She starts calling you somewhat frequently, wondering about silly things like if you like Cinnamon or Butterscotch. You say Cinnamon, but then she calls a few minutes later asking if you'd be opposed to Butterscotch being on your plate. You don't like butterscotch at all, but you decide to just say no, so you wouldn't offend your friend.
To be honest, you were very curious as to why that Froggit creature referred to Toriel as "Your Majesty", but you figured once you got to wherever it is she wanted to take you, it would be a more proper time to ask.
After frolicking around in the Ruins for a bit and meeting some new faces; like a rather shy and timid ghost named Napstablook, who managed to impress you with a neat trick where he makes a hat out of his tears which he called a "dapperblook"; you finally catch up with Ms. Toriel. After a bit of chit-chat, she guides you to the front door of her house. It's smaller than you think it would be, given that supposedly she was a Queen, presumably of the Underground.
Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the RUINS fills you with determination.
Ruins Home, LV: 1 Time 33:54?! (Seriously, it took me over 30 minutes?!)
File Saved.
As you walk in, you smell a delicious and mouthwatering scent. "Do you smell that my child? Surprise! It is a Cinnamon Butterscotch pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here, so I will hold off on snail pie for tonight."
You almost cringe at the B word and revile in horror as to what the snail pie would taste like, but you smile anyway, feeling hungry after the long exploration of the ruins. But first and foremost, you felt more tired than hungry.
Toriel seeing this, picked you up and carried you to your new room. She couldn't help but give you a kiss goodnight, being the motherly kind of creature she was.
As you sleep, you have a strange dream. You dream of a young goat kid you somehow feel you know very well, similar in appearance to Ms. Toriel. He was badly hurt and crawling toward his mother's house, leaving a trail of blood behind him. "Mommy, Daddy, someone help me! Please, I don't want to die! Chara… Chara…" The goat called, crying heavily. "Please, Chara! Don't let me die!" Suddenly, an evil laugh is heard echoing throughout the Ruins.
It's not over yet. We still have a job… don't fail this time, okay? The evil laugh is heard echoing throughout the Ruins as a golden flower starts to grow. Wake up. Time to play some more! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
You wake up suddenly, gasping and panting for air. You feel tears streaming down your cheeks, your heart hurting intensely from the pain. You weren't even sure if you knew the goat in question, but he felt so familiar to you. You sob a bit, utterly terrified. Looking at the side of your bed on the floor, you see something that surprises you. A plate, of Ms. Toriel's Cinnamon-Butterscotch pie and a glass of cool, refreshing milk…
You smile and tear up seeing it as you scoop it up into your mouth. It was warm and sweet, with just the right amount of cinnamon… something about the taste seems familiar to you. It reminds you a bit of Mom's pie, though it's more Apple-Cinnamon oriented as opposed to Toriel's. As you finish the pie, despite the fact you dislike butterscotch, it leaves you feeling content and nostalgic. You were in such a rush to finish the sweet treat, you didn't notice a letter sitting next to the pie.
Dear Child,
I hope you enjoy this little gesture of kindness I am giving to you. Remember me while you enjoy the pie. I know I am not your mother, but still, after meeting you today… I could not help but feel like you were one of my own. I haven't had a feeling like this in a long time. Thank you for giving a motherly goat like me some company, and being such a great child, even if it may not be forever...
With Love,
Toriel
Tears fall from your face as you clutch the letter, holding it close to your chest. "Thank you... Mom. Love you too."
To Be Continued…
I will admit something… I did want to just end it at the pie being left on the floor, but I just felt like the ending could be a bit better and really convey the emotion of hope and joy in the protagonist's heart. By the way, I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day, and be on the lookout for more from me, Satoru123!