Edited: Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Of Monsters and Shinobi
Chapter 2: No-one gets left behind
Frisk had to get this right. It didn't matter how many times they had to come here, they would get it right!
"But I can feel every other monster's as well. They all care about each other so much. And... they care about you too, Frisk. I wish I could tell you how everyone feels about you."
Frisk barely heard Asriel pouring his heart out for the-gods how many times even-over the effort of keeping their chakra tethered to the souls in the boy's grasp. Even then it was as easy as ever to forgive him. They let him continue on the same way things had always played out, until Asriel spread his arms, ready to break the barrier.
Frisk raced towards him and crashed into him with a hug, nearly knocking him over.
"Wha-what!? Frisk? Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't going to hug you, but-"
"Do you forgive them?" Frisk asked in a trembling voice. Asriel looked confused, "Wha-" "Chara! Do you forgive them?!" Asriel's confused eyes started to tear up, "H-how? Y-yes, of course I do! It wasn't their fault, they were just hurting." Frisk felt something deep in their soul, trembling with shame and sorrow, and they reached out and grabbed hold of it. Frisk shuddered against him as the shade fought against them, they looked at Asriel with eyes full of desperate hope.
"Do it now! Break the barrier now!" The boy looked lost for another second, but then put on a determined face and returned the hug, the two slowly rising from the ground on ethereal wind. Around them the air started to fill with souls, flying this way and that, glowing brighter and brighter. Frisk brought their hands together behind Asriel's back and started to form hand-signs. Upon the last sign being completed the souls whipped up into even more of a frenzy, flying faster. The formerly white monster souls started to glow pink, the human souls orbiting each other with something fleshy growing between them.
"Frisk! What are you doing?!" Asriel cried, feeling something he didn't understand coursing through him. Frisk smiled, it was working! Suddenly there was a flash-
*BWWWOOONNNGGG*
-and the sound of the barrier breaking and that of their spell rang-out at the same time. More flashes of light could be seen around the cavern as the souls of their friends became monsters again. And then Frisk was falling, and-*Oof*- landed on something, no someone, no two someones. Frisk quickly rolled off the two groaning bodies underneath them and stood up. They blinked a few times to clear their eyes and then smiled and whooped at what they saw as they looked around. There where their friends slowly rousing from the ground, but there was also Asriel, and another human child!
"YEEEESSSS! I did it! I did it! I did IIIIIIIT!" They cried, hopping around in joy, they then gasped and rushed to the side of the other children and began trying to rouse them.
"Naaaggghh… what hit me?" Undyne groused as she sat up, then she blinked and snapped to her feet. "Punk! You all right?" she said as she ran over. Frisk barely spared her a wave and went back to shaking the other kids. "Mmmnn…" Asriel was the first to rouse, slowly blinking his eyes open. "Frisk…" then he looked down at the form resting on his chest and froze. After a long few seconds he looked back up at them, tears in his eyes, "Frisk… I can feel again… are-are we dead?" Frisk laughed, bright and clear, "No Asriel, and neither are they, not anymore."
Frisk looked up, having not noticed the other monsters save Asgore and Toriel had gathered around the children. They saw this just in time for the Boss monsters to push through, "My child, are y-*gasp*" Toriel started, then blanched. Asgore just looked on with a thousand yard stare.
"M-mom? D-d-dad?" Asriel said, reaching out his free arm towards them. The other monsters backed off as the king and former queen of the underground tumbled to their knees and crawled to the children. "Asriel. Is that really you?" Asgore said in a far off sounding voice, as Toriel painfully hesitated over taking the boy's hand, "Yes, yes! It's me! It's finally me… look Chara's back to! I don't know how Frisk did it but they're alive, I can feel that thing in their chest thumping!" he said through happy tears as his mother finally pulled his hand into her's. There was a small pulse of light from their joined hands, and the queen crumbled even further in relief as she completed the Check. She turned to Asgore, "It's him, this is real." The Boss monster trembled at her words and turned jerkily to look at Frisk.
"How…? How is it that you come now, when I had long stopped praying? How have you done this, I won't call it a miracle and diminish your work, but please how!?" Frisk blushed at the praise, but just as they opened their mouth- "Hey, punks!" Undyne shouted, "The barrier is gone!" That got the Boss monster's attention to where the others were gathered, then Asgore looked back at Frisk, "Don't tell me, you…" he trailed off, but Frisk was already shaking their head. "No, that was Asriel." Toriel's head whipped around, "What!?" "Mmmmhhhmm…" Whatever else she was going to say though was shelved, as her shout seemed the last straw to Chara's slumber. The child peeled their eyes open, slowly at first, but they flew open once those red eyes processed what they were seeing, "Asriel!" with a shout they clung to the young Boss monster, burying their face in the crook of his neck and wailing, blubbering about "all my fault", "hurt you", and "sorry, so soso sorry, sorry".
With that any questions where put on hold as the Boss monsters swept their children off the floor to be cuddled between them. "Chara, no, Chara, it's ok! It's better now, plea-se do-n't cry or I-I'll…" Asriel tried to calm Chara but ended up weeping himself, Toriel started the four of them rocking back and forth and hummed a tune directly into Chara's mop of brown hair. Asgore, with difficulty, took his eyes away from his family, to the one who'd given it back to him. They had a small and… resigned smile on their face, and oh no that will not do. "Toriel?" The matronly Boss monster looked up at him from rubbing Chara's back, "I do believe we missed one." She followed his eyes, and stared like she'd never seen them before, then broke out into a tearful smile. Readjusting their hold on the now calmer Chara and Asriel, they each spread out an arm, beckoning them to join.
At first they just stared, face blank, but then it crumpled, and the child ran into their embrace, crying silent tears of happiness.
"And that's how we freed you all the first time." Frisk said from Toriel's lap, as the group sat on the cliff just outside the throne room.
"But… I couldn't leave Asriel behind. So I Reset."
The monsters all sat enraptured by the tale coming from the three children, one of them picking up the story when it became too hard for the others, or chiming in when they knew something the others didn't, though that was mostly Frisk. So far they'd explained Chara's plan, during which they and Asriel clung to each other like no tomorrow, how Flowey came to be, to which Alphys had apologized profusely, Frisk's strange ability to turn back time and Chara's shattered soul being stuck to theirs, and now how they learned how to break the barrier. Now they were onto the last leg of the story, having cut out repeats from the times Frisk had Loaded or Reset.
Now Frisk would explain what they had done to bring back Chara and Asriel.
"Before I explain what I did there is something you have to understand about the world that seems to have changed since you were put underground. It's called Chakra. It's a mixture of mental, physical, and spiritual energies. It's in everyone and everything, and humans have learned to use it. Those people who use it are called Ninja." Frisk paused to giggle at Alphys' and Undyne's in-unison squeals, then continued, "As you might have guessed, I'm an orphan." Here the monsters sobered and Toriel pulled an arm around the child, "Because of that, when I turned six I enrolled in the Ninja Academy." Asgore frowned silently, well hearing the implication that there hadn't been much choice for the child.
"After I got out of the Ruins again I spent, what was subjectively several years, but real time a few months at a time, in isolated areas of the underground, training. It turned out my chakra stores came with me when I jumped back in time. I didn't know much about jutsu," Frisk blinked,
"Um, chakra spells, but I knew what each of the hand seals did," Here they broke off to run through them at a slow pace so all present could see them all.
"So I practiced interacting with my soul with my chakra, oh, by this point I'd had it pulled out enough that I could take it out on my own."
They held up a hand and started counting off fingers, "I learned how to move it through solid objects, how to split off pieces of it, how to pull it back together, and how to mix chakra with my determination!" Frisk said, oblivious to the mounting horror of those around them as they went down their list.
"What I actually did is rather simple, though it was really hard. When I fought Asriel again I called out to the souls like normal, but I also reached out with my chakra. First the human souls, then all the monster souls. When our fight was over I waited until Asriel was about to break the barrier, and then I hugged him and saturated his body with my chakra, making like, a picture of who he was. I also had to get him to say he forgave Chara, because they'd been quiet since I Reset, not believing there was a way and not listening to me. When they perked up I grabbed them with my determination and chakra and pieced their soul back together. From there I made Asriel a new soul from chakra, and made Chara a new body from the physical side of chakra and energy from the human souls." They were panting by the time they finished talking, but they were glowing with pride.
"that's not all you did though. is it?" Sans said.
Frisk tilted their head, "How'd you know?" They asked.
Sans folded his arms, "because before today I had one HP."
While the other monsters gaped at the Skeleton, Frisk merely nodded, "That would do it. And I was getting to that."
The child hunched their shoulders a bit, "I know how easily monsters are killed. I… I couldn't just get you out and have you not have a fighting chance in this world."
Their back straightened, their face a mask of determination, "So, I mixed all the monster souls with determination, chakra, and power from the human souls and my own. You guys won't die at the intent to harm now! And-and you'll be able to get even stronger now, and use different magics then what you were born with, and-"
"Frisk."
The child flinched, and slowly turned their head to look at Asgore, who had a kind smile on his face and a child on each knee, "My child, it's alright. You needn't fear punishment for tampering with our souls, though it would be appreciated if you ask next time. You did what you did because you wanted to help, and that is what matters."
Frisk's eyes darted around to the other monsters, and saw only smiling acceptance, causing them to smile softly in turn, "Thanks you guys."
Suddenly Alphys blanched, "Wait, determination!? In all of us!? Even the amalgamates?!" Frisk held their hands up, "And chakra, and chakra! Which has a physical component!" Alphys was still breathing heavily even as Undyne tried to comfort her, but motioned for the child to continue, "I paid special attention to them when I was altering the souls, I pulled their mixed up souls apart, and used physical energy to hold them together. I don't know if it will fix them completely though." Alphys, having just calmed, perked up. She dug through her pockets, and pulled out a small note pad that she rapidly started scribbling on and mumbling to herself.
After as second she looked back up and said, "I-I'll have to run some tests later, but, I think I can finish what you started there." She smiled, "I-I-thank-you Frisk. Thank you for giving me the chance to fix my mistakes."
*Ahem* Asgore cleared his throat to get attention back on him.
"Well, now that we're up to speed, unless there are any other pressing concerns," He paused to look left and right, getting shakes of the head from all present, "I'd say it's time to go down and meet the humans in Frisk's village." With that he scooted Chara and Asriel from his lap and stood up, the other monsters following suit. He turned to Frisk, "Frisk, my child, can you lead us to your village?"
Frisk laughed, "I don't need to, we just have to go 'round the mountain to see it."
Asgore nodded and turned to the trail leading down from the cliff.
"Then let's get moving."
Of course they didn't head out immediately, Asgore and Undyne made rapid fire calls to inform the monsters what had happened and to rally the guard. Meanwhile Toriel and Papyrus went back into the palace to gather provisions for the trip, leaving Alphys, Sans, and Mettaton to watch the children. Soon enough things were squared away, and they were off. Along the way down and around the mountain, Asgore, Undyne and Sans noticed that Frisk not only had greater stamina than the other children but also had a oddly swift and sure footed stride, something borne out by the rough overgrown path as opposed to the paved walkways of the underground.
"It makes sense." Undyne said in an undertone, Asgore raised an eyebrow, "How so?" She motioned for them to pull back from the others, then continued, "Humans have many names for their warriors, ninja being one of them. They're spies and assassins mostly. They prefer stealth." Asgore's frown deepened, his paws clenched at his sides, "So, they were training them to be a killer."
"not quite." They both looked up to see Sans walking backwards ahead of them, "the way the kid talked about this 'chakra', sounded like ninja are the only ones who use it. the meaning of the word must have changed to be general, like 'soldier'." His eye-sockets narrowed a bit, "that doesn't mean they don't have those though, i'll keep an eye out." He emphasized with a wink and turned back around. Then he hesitated for a half a step, looked sharply over his shoulder at them, and flicked his eye lights up to the trees. Asgore and Undyne glanced at each other and nodded. Asgore cleared his throat, "Everyone, it's time to take a break." He said, seemingly for sake of Chara and Asriel, who were staring to lag.
There was a general grumble of agreement as the group settled down on the soft grass, Sans flopping onto his back lamely. At Toriel's prompting Mettaton pulled a checkered blanket out of a compartment on his box form and laid it out, on which the Boss monster set down the basket of food she'd been carrying. She then began pulling from it paper plates and then sandwiches of various fillings. She did this despite the basket being far too small to have held half of what she pulled from it. The monsters and humans gathered onto the blanket just as Toriel pulled out a large thermos and mugs. The conversation was light, as they were all quite hungry from the excitement of the day, and Toriel would suffer no-one to try talking with their mouth full.
Of course soon enough the idyllic scene was disrupted by a large rustling from the other side of the clearing. The Monsters turned to see just as the foliage parted, and Frisk gasped when they saw what emerged,
"Uchiha Saskue-sama!" They said dropping their sandwich to stand up and hastily bow from the waist. The monsters glanced back and forth from the child to this new human. He looked vastly different from Frisk or Chara, with black hair and eyes, pale skin, dressed in a strange, thick vest over dark blue clothing, a sheathed sword at his side and a totally blank face, he cut an imposing figure.
"Child of Konoha," This 'Uchiha' acknowledged, "The tree sways, it's fruits grow heavy. Do they fall?" He asked. While the monsters were thrown off by the apparent nonsense, Frisk responded in kind, "Into waiting hands, with gentle grip."
Sasuke was briefly both glad and annoyed he'd been forced to relearn the Academy's lessons as part of his community-service. Glad because it meant he knew what code to ask from the Academy student, annoyed because they'd given back the code for 'They are not threatening me, I am here of my own free will.'
Judging by the crown on the larger goat-man's head, however, it wouldn't be that simple.