Toriel lead James into the Ruins proper, walking through the large archway and away from that murderous flower. James breathed a sigh of relief, glad to finally be away from Flowey. If he was to be honest, the flower frightened him. One would think him chicken, but he was nearly turned into an accurate cosplay of a slice of swiss cheese by the killer plant. He learned his lesson, do not take anything for granted in the underground.
He looked up and around the new room he entered and gasped in awe. It was absolutely massive. The purple brick walls loomed high above him, holding up a tall vaulting ceiling. The room was clean and well managed, but there were still obvious signs of age all around the room, like cracks in the stonework and plants growing from the walls. Even so, the plants were trimmed, and the marble stonework was swept. Even the leaf pile that sat between the dual marble staircases seem to sparkle that little bit.
Toriel strided up the right staircase quickly. She then disappeared into a door set into the far wall and flanked by vines growing down from the ceiling. However, James didn't have time to wonder what the rune was for, as Toriel had left him behind. So, he shook himself from his stupor and jogged up the stairs, following Toriel into the next room.
When he entered, he saw that Toriel was standing in front of a closed double door that was the same color of the walls. He couldn't quite see it past Toriel, but it looked as if the door had some form of symbol on it.
"Welcome to your new home, young one," Toriel said, cupping her paws in each other. "The Ruins contain many puzzles, like this one here," she continued, gesturing to the set of six pressure plates embedded into the floor of the room, "these are ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys."
James looked over towards where Toriel was gesturing and cocked his head to the side. "Huh. How do I solve it?" he asked, walking over to the array of plates.
Toriel bit her lip slightly before saying, "Oh no my child, you don't have to solve it yourself."
However, James was having none of it. He waved her off and said, "It's fine, I think I can do it just fine." He looked up from the puzzle and saw the look of concern that Toriel was giving him before adding, "Plus it'll be a great learning experience for if we get split up."
Toriel frowned slightly at this. However she relented, sighing. "Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road."
James mhmm'd and muttered, "thanks," quietly before approaching the buttons in the floor. Brave and foolish, fearless, walk not the middle road, he thought to himself, circling the pressure plates, walk not the middle- wait, I think…
He stepped onto the four outer most buttons, each one giving a pained grinding sound as they went down. After the fourth one went down, the door in the far wall opened up, leading into the next room. Toriel gave him a round of applause, "Nicely done my child. Let us proceed further into the catacombs." She then strided through the doorway. James smiled, before following Toriel.
In the next room, he saw Toriel walk over a set of bridges to stand in front of a set of spikes that blocked the way into the next room. This had better not become a common occurence, James thought to himself while he followed Toriel over to the spikes. "So, what's the puzzle in this room?" he asked her.
She smiled softly."The spikes behind me will lower once both levers are pulled," she said while directing James's attention to the levers on the wall. He gave a curt nod and walked over to the one closest to him. He went to pull it, but instead hit the wall. It's painted on, what? He thought to himself confused.
"No, no, no," Toriel chided, "the other one." He shook it off and went over to the next one, and gave it a hearty tug. He heard gears whirring in the wall but not much else. He turned around and checked on the spikes blocking the way, but they had yet to retract. He looked around the room a bit before spotting the other one on the wall across the river. Guess I should flip that one too.
He walked over to the other lever and yanked that one down as well. Along with the sound of gears, the sharp *SHINK* of spikes retracting filled the air.
"Good job, my child," Toriel said, giving a warm smile, "please follow me into the next room." She promptly turned around and went past the lowered spikes, with James following suit shortly thereafter.
The next room was very similar to the previous one, in that the walls were purple and the floor had a path going through it. However, what was special about this room was the raggedy, torn, practice dummy positioned near the edge of the room. Toriel stood near the dummy with her hands folded over each other. She looked distracted about something, but shook it off when James walked in.
Toriel beckoned James over to her with a patient smile and said, "come over here my child." James complied with a nod and strolled over to her and stood by the dummy. Toriel (somehow) smiled again, and spoke to him. "Now then, as a human in the Underground, you may be attacked by the monsters residing here," Toriel said, causing James to become weary of the kind goat. She continued, "However, you mustn't fight them. Instead, try to strike up a friendly conversation with them and I will come resolve the conflict for you," she then motioned towards the dummy, "try doing so with this Practice Dummy."
James looked at the dummy with uncertainty, then back up at Toriel, then back at the dummy, then asked, "is the dummy alive or..?"
Toriel covered her snout with her paw and giggled a bit at his question, then waved him off, "Of course not silly, it is just a dummy after all." She looked down at him and saw his hesitation and said, "it's okay, my child, it won't bite."
James hissed in a breathe before sighing, "I guess…" He turned towards the dummy and said confidently, "Hiya! How are ya? I'm James, and I must say you look absolutely dashing today in your…" James looked around in hesitation before asking, "dust?"
Toriel clapped for him. "You did nicely my child. Now then, let's continue." She then promptly turned and walked out of the room.
James sighed and said, "That's that I suppose."
However just as he was preparing to leave the room, he heard a slow, sarcastic clap. "Nicely done talking to an inanimate object James," came a girl's voice from behind him, "a real social butterfly, you are." James snapped around quickly and locked eyes with the girl who spoke to him.
She was smiling a mischievous smile at him, the corners of her mouth framed by her faintly blushed cheeks. Her crimson eyes betrayed a look of a playful, but dangerous demeanor. All of this was framed by a professionally done bob-cut style that was well taken care of. She stood with a confident posture that spoke of power and made her look imposing. She was wearing a lime-green-with-yellow-stripes sweater with simple brown khaki shorts that showed off a large portion of her thighs. Her overall build was very lithe and boyish, with lots of sharp angles and shallow curves.
She crossed her arms across her flat chest and gained an aggressive look. "Are you gonna stand there all day checking me out, or are you gonna ask me who I am?" She asked James, who was most definitely not taking a small notice to her… "features".
He shook his head and took the not-so-subtle hint. "Right! Who are you, and I was not checking you out!" he rebuked, eliciting a chuckle from the teen.
"Sure you weren't," she said with an eye roll, "I'm Chara, and I've been following you and Toriel." She strode over to James, her bare feet slapping against the smooth stone.
"Totally not creepy at all, nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head, "If you wanted to come with, you could have said so. I need to catch up with Toriel before she gets worried, come on." He turned and beckoned her to follow.
"Sure, why not?" she said. Then she muttered, "like I have anything better to do."
"What was that?" James asked over his shoulder.
"Nothing."
They came up the next room, which the path curled and bent oddly in, leaving to the right. Toriel stood there, waiting for James. She then waved and continued moving down the hall. "Not real patient there, is she?" James commented to his recently acquired companion.
"Apparently so," she deadpanned. She brightened slightly then mentioned, "Remember the design of the path on the ground in this room, you'll need it for the spike bridge coming up."
"Uhh, okay then," James said, "Doesn't look that hard." He then walked the path a couple of times.
Chara was starting to get impatient with purple-clad boy and started to tap her foot. "Come on, we don't have all day," she stated.
James looked up from the path he was traversing and blinked at her, before making an "Oh" face and shooting upright. "Right right!" he said, "we should probably get moving, can't leave Toriel waiting after all." He then power walked down the path Toriel followed, with Chara lagging behind.
They took a corner in the path and came face-to-face with peculiar sight, to say the least. There was what looked to be a white frog with a black belly sitting in the middle of the hall. It just gazed at the two of them as they approached it. When they stopped in front of it, the frog just blinked at them and croaked.
James gave it a perplexed look and tilted his head. "Umm, what is it that I'm looking at here?" he asked Chara.
She walked up next to him and stood by his side. "It is monster type called 'Froggit'," she stated simply, "life is difficult for a frog like it."
James looked back over to the froggit with a more sympathetic look this time, and took a step forward. "Perhaps we should help it then," he said.
"Indeed we should. Kill it."
"Wait what?" James stammered, nearly tripping over himself, "You want me to kill some random monster we just met?"
"Yes, you'd be doing it a favor," the pale teen said.
"A favor? By killing it? I'm not some random sociopath mate. I'm not gonna kill something just because it's having a hard time at the moment."
Chara put her hand to her forehead and shook her head, letting out an exasperated sigh. "That's nice, that really is. Think of it as self-defense then, as you're about to be jumped."
"What?" James turned around just in time to be hopped onto by the froggit. It was a heavy monster, to say the least, making him struggle to breathe. Chara's laughter filled his ears as he struggled to get the frog off of him. "Oh quit your laughing and give me a hand here!" he yelled out to her, but she only laughed more. He looked at the frog in the eyes.
'Maybe if I asked it nicely, it would get off,' he thought. So he cleared his throat and- as nicely as he could- said, "As pretty as you are, could you please get off of me?"
The froggit gave blush and what sounded like a giggle and hopped off of him. It stared at him and gave a croak.
James sat up and said breathlessly, "Thanks friend." He stood up and brushed the dust off of himself. He then glared back at the other teen who was covering her mouth. "Real lot of help you were there, mate," he said.
Not a moment afterwards, Toriel came around the next corner with a worried expression searching for where James had went. There, she came upon a sight. She saw James standing there with an irritated look and a blushing froggit hopping down the hall away from him. She calmed down quickly after realizing what had probably happened, and approached James. "Thank goodness you're all right," she said in a relieved tone, "I see that you managed to handle yourself?"
"Yeah, it was a small scuffle, but we sorted it out," said James, shifting his attention over to Toriel. His gaze softened a bit when he saw Toriel's concerned look. "I suppose we can continue now," he said, motioning to behind Toriel.
"Follow me then," she said, walking down the hall.
James hesitated, and looked back at Chara who gave him an evil glare that gave him the shivers. Shaking it off, he followed Toriel down the hall, hearing Chara follow soon after.
'Why didn't say anything about Chara?' James wondered to himself. However, he is cut from his thoughts early as they arrived at the spike bridge that Chara mentioned earlier.
He heard Toriel 'hmm' for a moment before she said, "Please take my hand my child, I shall lead you across the bridge." She stuck out her hand for James to grab afterwards.
"But I can do it myself," James protested. Afterall, he just dealt with a froggit and two puzzles prior.
"I know you can my child, I don't wish to see you attempt this puzzle and hurt yourself." She emphasized her point by directing to the bridge of spikes, which was surrounded on both sides by a water moat. She then held out her hand again, smiling a motherly smile.
James contemplated arguing with her further, but decided it wouldn't be worth the time or effort. So, it was with a resigned sigh, he set his hand in Toriel's and followed her across the bridge.
Once across the hazard, James pulled his hand from Toriel's and crossed his arms.
Toriel sighed at this, and turned around to face him. She wore a very serious express and stood confidently. "Now then, my child," she started, "you have done excellently thus far, however I have a difficult request to ask of you." She exhaled before continuing, "I would like for you to walk to the end of the room by yourself, I'm sorry." She then turned and walked full speed down the long corridor behind her.
"Looks like you've been abandoned, not surprising," came Chara from behind James stood besides him.
"Oh great, just like dad. Went out for a pack of cigs and never came back," he replied dryly. "C'mon let's get going," he directed. He then started down the long corridor.
"Ooh, someone's antsy to get moving I see." Chara skipped after him down the hall.
"Yes I am. What's the situation with you? I didn't see you fall down that hole before," James interrogated. It was quite odd how she appeared out of nowhere.
"Who, me?" Chara responded, "I'm dead."
This caused James to lose his footing and stumble forward. However, he managed to catch himself before he lost his balance and shot Chara an incredulous look. "You're dead? What?"
Chara stopped behind James, who had turned around prior. "I died a long time ago, the monsters killed me when I first fell."
James raised a brow at this, "But they seem so nice, why would they do that?"
"Because they are evil, and only want to kill humans."
James grew suspicious of the girl. "Uh-huh, I guess I'll ask Toriel about it." With that, he turned around and continued down the hall.
Chara frowned at him, her plan wasn't quite there yet, but it was getting there. She continued after him, saying, "You know she won't tell you the truth, she will tell only lies."
James gave an idle "uh-huh" and continued down the corridor. Chara simply frowned. "Your funeral for trusting them," she said, then went quiet.
They reached a pillar in the hall. As they were about to pass, Toriel walked out from behind it. "Greetings, my child," she greeted, "Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was simply behind this pillar the entire time." She folded her hands over themselves. "Thank you for trusting me, however there was a reason for this exercise," she continued, "and that is to test your independence." She then reached into a pocket of a her robe then before continuing again. "I must attend to some errands, take this cell phone and remain here," she paused and handed James an old flip phone from the early 2000's, "call if you need anything. Be good." With that, she went through the door to the next room and out of sight.
"Bye… I guess," James said with a small wave. He supposed he'd ask her about what Chara said later. But now, he'd take a break and wait for her to comeback. So, he sat down against the wall and patted a spot next to him.
"What?" Chara asked.
"Sit down, she won't be back for a while," James said, patting the spot again for emphasis.
Chara frowned, but she accepted anyways as she knew she would not be changing James's mind about the situation. Plus, she needed some time to think about what her next steps would be. Especially for how strait-sighted this kid is.
And for me to flush out an actual plot. Like seriously, I need an idea of what I'm doing and what everyone's motives are before I continue this. Don't worry, this doesn't mean I'm going on an indefinite hiatus, it's just me being honest with you guys.
And before I forget, sorry if I offended any of you with that abandonment joke.