The sound of loud knocks on the door brought Steven back to reality, pulling him out of sleep.

"Hello?" he heard, the knocks getting louder. "Guys, WAKE UP!"

"Three more days," he heard Asriel moan. Sitting up, Steven stretched his arms.

"Wake up, Asriel," he yawned, looking beside him. Connie's eyes were wide open, as if she had been up for a while, but she was still laying down. Beside them Papyrus shot up like a rocket and ran over to the door.

"GOOD MORNING, BROTHER!" He exclaimed, looking up at Sans.

"Uh, hey," he said, looking into the room. He could see that everyone else was awake- except for Asriel.

"Asriel, it's time to wake up," He said, walking in and tugging on the blankets. Asriel turned over.

"It's too early…" he groaned. Sans narrowed his eyes and yanked the covers off, startling Asriel out of his dream.

"Wake up NOW!" He shouted. Asriel jumped out of bed.

"Ok, ok, I'm up!" He laughed, ignoring Sans's anger. Steven laughed, too, helping Connie up.

"You've got a big day ahead of you," Sans continued, looking at them. "You said you gotta get to the surface? Well, then, you shouldn't be sleeping in 'till 11:00. I told you guys to go to bed."

"Heh, sorry about that…" Connie said, standing beside Steven. Sans wandered into the kitchen, looking for Papyrus, and the three followed him.

"What's for breakfast?" Steven asked, suddenly hungry.

"We don't really have anything… you can have some Temmie Flakes if you want," he replied, pulling a box out of a cabinet.

"Yum!" Asriel said, taking a seat at a small table that lay on the far side of the room.

"I've never had those before," Connie noted, sitting beside him.

"Yeah, I've never heard of Tem," Steven said, grinning.

"Good one, kid," Sans said, handing him a bowl.

"HAVE YOU BEEN SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME WITH MY BROTHER?" Papyrus asked, once again startling Steven. Steven shook his head slightly.

"I was just kitten around, Papyrus," he replied.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH," Papyrus huffed as Sans started laughing.

"Oh, and what're you gonna do? Punish him?" Sans said.

"SANS-"

"Maybe send him to the- pungeon?"
"SANS, I SWEAR TO GOD, IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS."

"Aw, come on, Pap- you're smiling and you know it."

"I KNOW, AND I HATE IT."

"Hey, these are actually pretty good," Connie said, breaking up the argument. She elbowed Steven, who was still laughing at the two.

"Yeah, they're better than you'd expect," he agreed, taking another spoonful.

"I thought you'd like it," Sans said, pushing the box to the middle of the table. They spent the rest of the morning talking and eating Temmie Flakes, until it was time to depart.

"Hey, do you guys have anymore Temmie Flakes? You know, for the road?" Asriel asked, handing Connie her backpack.

"Dude, you literally ate five bowls," Sans said. "We don't have anymore."

"Alright…" he said, laughing. "Sorry about that."

"WELL, I SUPPOSE IT'S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE…" Papyrus said, sadly. "ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE TO GO?"

"Sorry, you know we have to get back to the surface," Steven argued, looking up at him. Papyrus sighed.

"FINE…" he said, looking away. "WE'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU!"

"Bro, I'm sure we'll see 'em again," Sans said, turning back to the three. "Hey, Steven, Connie, Asriel… try and stay safe out there. There are a lot of monsters who dislike humans… be prepared for anything. Trust me, it'll help."

"Thanks, Sans," Steven said, "And thanks, Papyrus."

"YOU'RE WELCOME!" Papyrus said, striking a pose. Sans laughed.

"Alright, you guys should get going… good luck!"

"Bye!" The three called out in unison, and they started off towards the waterfall.

"That was nice," Steven said, walking beside Connie.

"They were a little strange… but it was still a lot of fun!" She agreed, smiling.

"I can't wait to get to the barrier!" Asriel exclaimed, barely containing his excitement. More seriously, he said, "It'll take more than one soul to cross… so Stevonnie can cross over, right?"

"I'm not so sure, Asriel… a fusion is a combination into one," Connie said, looking at Steven worriedly. "I didn't know about that rule."

"Well, we can always try!" Steven said in an attempt to raise her spirits. "We'll just have to wait and see…"

"Hey, have you ever tried to fuse with a monster, Steven?" Asriel asked, an idea popping into his head. Steven started to reply, but Connie cut them off.

"Hey, Asriel, Steven, come look at this flower!" She called from down the path. The two ran over to her, bending down to inspect it.

"Hey, Asriel, Steven, come look at this flower!" it said, in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, that's an echo flower!" Asriel declared.

"Oh, that's an echo flower!" it repeated. The three laughed along, and so did the flower.

"That's kinda cool," Steven said. "It looks like this place is filled with so many of them."
"It looks like this place is filled with so many of them," the flower repeated, but instead of the high pitch it used on Connie and Asriel, this one seemed more… upset. Distraught, even.

"Hey, what happened to it?" Steven asked.

"I don't know… it's kinda weird for it to act that way," Asriel said.

"I don't know… it's kinda weird for it to act that way." The echo flower was now back to it's normal tone.

"C'mon, this is starting to freak me out," Connie said, and the others nodded, continuing down the path.

"The lighting here is so cool," Steven noted, holding his arm out as to let it soak in the blue light.

"Yeah, but it's getting darker…" Asriel said, squinting. "The walls here seem to cast a glow, though- AGH!"

"Asriel?!" Connie asked, worried.

"I'm fine!" He laughed back. "Don't worry- I just fell into the water!"

"Is it deep?" Steven called.

"No, it's really shallow… I think we have to walk across it! There doesn't seem to be a bridge."

"That's fine with me!" Steven exclaimed, running ahead. A large splash sounded from ahead, and reluctantly, Connie followed, stepping into the water.

"It's cold!" Connie laughed, holding her arms out in front of her. "Where are you guys at?"

"We're over here!" Steven shouted, holding his arm out. He grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the water. "You OK?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine!" she said, smiling.

"Come on, let's keep moving!" Asriel said, running up ahead.

"Wait for us!" Steven said, hurrying to catch up. The trail seemed to go on for a while, but eventually, they reached another small room.

"Hey, I can see again!" Connie said, observing their surroundings. Ahead of them, four small flowers lay arranged into a square. The upper left corner held an assortment of different paths leading to the other side of a stream- though none of them were connected.

"It's a puzzle!" Asriel exclaimed, picking one up. "I think we have complete one of the paths with these flowers!"

"Cool!" Steven said, picking one up. "That sounds easy enough."
"What if we get it wrong?" Connie asked, and Asriel pointed to a small, golden bell on the far wall.

"Then we ring that bell, and the flowers will return to their original spots!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Steven asked, placing a flower into the water. It didn't do anything. "How do we know if it's right?"

"The flowers will open up, creating a bridge. Otherwise, we have to reset the puzzle," Asriel concluded, placing his flower next to Stevens. Connie walked over with one in her hand, inspecting the arrangement.

"Where should I put this? I don't see pattern," she said, confused. Asriel pointed to a square, and she laid hers there, still looking for a pattern.

"I don't think we did this right," Steven said, also confused.

"Yeah we did! Don't you see it?" Asriel said, running over with another flower. He pointed to a place beside the third flower, laying his there. Suddenly, the all opened up and hardened into one, long bridge.

"That's one weird looking bridge!" Connie said, laughing, as she walked across the blossoms.

"I don't think I would've caught that if you hadn't pointed it out," Steven noted, looking back one more time at the puzzle. "You really do have an eye for puzzles!"

"Heh, thanks!" Asriel beamed, as he walked along the bridge. The three headed off into the darkness once more, feeling their way along the wall.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Connie said, frustrated.

"I don't know… it's kind of annoying," Asriel huffed. "How long have we been walking?"

"Ten minutes? Twenty?" Steven guessed. Asriel groaned.

"I'm hungry…" he said after a while. "Do you guys have anything to eat?"

"You eat a lot, don't you?" Connie said, pulling out a granola bar and holding it out to Asriel. He shrugged, opening it up.

"I just realized, we don't even know where the barrier is," Steven said, looking towards Asriel.

"I'm pretty sure I know where it is…" Asriel started, but he didn't say anything after that. The three continued in silence, until, more blue light flooded into the cave.

"Is there another puzzle?" Connie asked, stopping at the edge of a stream.

"Not that I can see," Asriel said, inspecting the river. "Hey, see, there's a bridge right there."

"C'mon," Steven said, walking across it. From the other side of the room, they heard a loud bang, like a large door shutting.

"What was that?" Connie asked.

"I don't know… hey, why is that large field there?" Asriel asked, pointing out a patch of tall, green-blue grass.

"I think we have to go through it," Steven guessed. Reluctantly, they continued onward, until they heard a voice.

"So," they heard, "I was passing through Snowdin last night…"

"EXCELLENT!" The second voice sounded a lot like Papyrus. "ALTHOUGH, I DIDN'T SEE YOU… WHERE WERE YOU AT?"

"Let me get to that part, Papyrus," said a woman's voice. "I was thinking… you told me you wanted to be in the Royal Guard when you grow up?"
"YES! IT'S MY DREAM!" Papyrus exclaimed from the other side of the wall.

"Well, rules are rules… you can't join yet. But how would you like to help us out?"

"YES! ANYTHING, !" They heard. Steven looked over at Connie worriedly, and she shrugged anxiously.

"I couldn't help but overhear something. I was pretty sure it was you… tell me, you wouldn't happen to have seen any humans around here lately, have you?" asked Undyne.

"UM…"

"I know you have- I'm not asking you to turn 'em in or anything. Don't worry about that, we'll take care of it… Tell me, Papyrus, what they look like and where they went."

"Oh, geez," Steven said, but Connie clamped his mouth.

"UH… WELL, YOU SEE, UNDYNE… UM… TH-THEY WENT TOWARDS THE RUINS!" Papyrus exclaimed from the other side, and the three sighed of relief. "ONE OF THEM W-WAS WEARING A… GREEN HAT. AND THE OTHER WAS WEARING Y-YELLOW MITTENS."

"Oh, really?" Undyne asked. From the other side, Papyrus nodded, but the children couldn't see that. Sighing, she continued. "Alright, if that's how you wanna play… thanks for your contribution."

"N-NO PROBLEM…" Papyrus continued, obviously nervous. Footsteps sounded from the other side, but they stopped suddenly.

"Papyrus? Can I tell you something?" There was a pause before she continued. "I don't appreciate liars."

"LYING? WHO'S LYING? I'M NOT LYING! LYING IS BAD, MY BROTHER TOLD ME THAT!" Papyrus argued. Undyne huffed and marched away. A few minutes passed before there was a small sigh and the sound of small footsteps. Seconds later, Asriel's phone rang.

"ASRIEL!" Papyrus shouted. "CAN I TALK TO STEVEN AND CONNIE FOR A SECOND?!"

"S-sure…" Asriel stuttered, baffled by the previous events. He handed the phone to the two humans, turning on speaker mode.

"What do you need, Papyrus?" Steven asked, pushing the past moments out of his head.

"I THINK IT WOULD BE BEST IF YOU AVOID WEARING ANY GREEN HATS OR YELLOW MITTENS UNTIL YOU LEAVE- AND DON'T ASK WHY!"

"That's a weird request…" Connie started, attempting to act clueless.

"JUST DO WHAT MY BROTHER SAID AND STAY SAFE." Then there was a click, and Steven handed the phone to Asriel.

"I think we should hurry up and get out of here," Steven said. "I don't think that Undyne woman likes us very much."

"I think she's a human hunter," Asriel said. "She is a part of the Royal Guard."

"Is it because of that whole 'getting to the surface' thing?" Connie asked, and Asriel nodded sadly.

"Hey, don't worry!" Steven said. "We always have my shield- and if we have to, we can always use Mom's sword or Stevonnie to fight." At the sound of Stevonnie's name, Connie's eyes lit up, and Asriel smiled with DETERMINATION.

"Come on, Asriel, lead the way!" Steven said, stepping aside. Asriel nodded firmly and stepped ahead of the two.

"Right… from here, we need to go the Hotland." he said, pointing forward. "That's over there… that's where the lava and the Core are."

"The Core?" Steven asked.

"Trust me- you'll know it when you see it," Asriel said, continuing onward.

"Ok…" Connie said, glancing at Steven.

"C'mon, let's go," he said, and he and Connie followed Asriel into the darkness. It took a few minutes of wandering for the ominous, blue glow to return to the cave.

"Look, there are more of those Echo Flowers," Connie said, bending over.

"Oh, wow, there's a ton of them!" Steven exclaimed, standing beside her.

"Hey! I found a river!" Asriel shouted from the other side of the path. The two looked up at him, observing the long strea,

"Alright, let's do this!" Steven said, he and Connie walking over to him.

"It's another simple puzzle," Asriel said, picking up another flower.

"Yeah, it's like the other one," Steven said, grabbing another one.

"That's a good thing, right?" Connie asked, worriedly.

Nodding, Asriel said, "Yeah, compared to this, all the other puzzles have been a challenge… this one's just a line." Asriel grabbed another flower and placed it in front of Steven's, laying down the fourth one in front of that. Within second, the golden petals opened up to create a long, sturdy bridge, similar to the last.

"Done!" Steven said, smiling at Asriel.

"C'mon, let's go!" He exclaimed, and they continued. Eventually, they reached a split trail. "Hey, look, there's a path here that goes off the main trail," Asriel said, pointing it out.

"Let's see where it leads," Steven suggested, taking off.

"Hey, STEVEN!" Connie shouted, laughing. A few minutes passed before the three reached a small cart standing all alone in a small room. There was another monster there, looking bored. When he saw the children, his eyes lit up.

"Nice Cream! Get your Nice Creams here!" he exclaimed, pretending to talk to no one in particular.

"Well, it's not a short cut," Connie started, "but I am hungry!"

"Me, too," Steven and Asriel said in unison, laughing. Connie walked over to the cart, taking some gold from Asriel. She handed it to the sales man.

"I'll take three, please," she said, handing the man the gold.

"Actually, make it twenty!" Asriel said, and Connie flipped to him.

"What?!" She said, but he nodded firmly, and she sighed and turned around. "Alright, make it twenty."

"Y-yo want twenty?! Oh, wow!" the man said, beaming. He pulled out twenty blue bars and handed them all to Connie, who put the in her freezing pouch in her bookbag. "Hey, kids?" the man called as they started walking away. They turned back around, and he continued. "Don't forget your punch cards!"
"Punch cards?" Steven asked. He nodded.

"For a free Nice Cream later on!" He said, handing one to Steven. He gave another one o Connie and to Asriel.

"Oh, well then… here ya go!" Asriel said, turning his back in. Connie and Steven laughed as the man pulled out another Nice Cream.

"Thank you!" they called, walking away. Asriel took his free popsicle and started eating it right away, finishing it in one bite.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Steven asked, laughing.

"Please don't ever do that again," Connie moaned, and Asriel laughed.

"Well, let's go," he said between laughs, and Connie rolled her eyes playfully, trailing behind him. Once again, a few minutes passed before the conversation started back up.

"So, Asriel," Steven started. "I wanted to ask you a que-"

With that, a fast swoosh of air shot by the children, caused by the violent force of a long, blue spear. "STOP NOW, HUMANS!" Shouted who they assumed to be Undyne.

"Run!" Steven shouted, he and Connie taking off. Asriel followed as multiple spears continued to hurl at them, one narrowly missing Asriel's ear.

"AGH!" He shouted, ducking. Out of instinct, Steven grabbed Connie and Asriel, squeezing his eyes shut. Within seconds, a large, pink bubble appeared around the group.

"Whoa," Asriel started, but Connie interrupted.

"STEVEN! Quick, over there!" She pointed to a smaller room, and Steven nodded, he and her pushing their way into it. The three stumbled into the small sub cavern, breathing heavily.

"W-we made it…" Steven said, looking around.

"How did you make this bubble?" Asked Asriel, starry eyed. Steven smiled.

"With magic," he said, beaming.

"Actually, we aren't too sure how," Connie said, shrugging.

"L-let's try and avoid doing that again," Asriel breathed, catching his breath.

"Yeah…" Steven said, turning to Connie. "Who was that, anyway?"

"I think that was Undyne…" Connie said, looking at Asriel for confirmation.

"It was," he replied, with a firm nod.

"Well, let's keep going," she suggested anxiously. "The sooner we're out of here, the better."

"Yeah," said Steven, lowering the bubble and heading out of the small cavern. The three wandered along the path, making sure to keep an eye out for the Royal Guard. As the temperature rose, it became more clear to see that they were shortly approaching Hotland.