Undyne burst from the shadows in thick, gleaming armor, her hair flying above her helmet like a scarlet plume. Forming another spear—no, spears—in her hand, Undyne aimed three at a time, converged their points in midair, and fired with ferocity. Frisk shoved their yelping children away and shielded them with their red, human soul. A barrage of spears then splintered off from the three, and Frisk leaped backward, desperately rolling out of their path.
"Run!" Frisk cried, staggering to their feet just in time to dodge another set of hurled spears before charging headlong deeper into Waterfall.
Verdana and Vivaldi forced themselves to break away from their mother and run in the opposite direction. Though this meant running toward Undyne at top speed, the captain of the Royal Guard bypassed them and stayed on Frisk's trail, firing spear after spear through the boardwalk at the slim, agile human. The young skeletons seemed not to exist to her. Maybe Papyrus had told her there was one human, not three.
The children ran and ran until their joints burned. Once they reached the marsh they had crossed earlier, however, they struggled to remember which winding path they had taken. They glanced at each other and their eyes' red lights flared with fear. So did their barrettes; in fact, their bodies pulsed with magic. How far from their mother had they run?
"Where'd we go?" said Verdana, rolling up his black sweater sleeves above his forearm bones.
Vivaldi brushed her metacarpals against the cave walls. The path was dark, but present, and now visible thanks to the magical glow emanating from the twins. She took Verdana by the elbow and led him forward, sparking his curiosity enough for him to eagerly follow. Soon, around a bend, the cheerful light of a save star welcomed them through an open archway.
But then, the twins blinked at what else they saw. A village?
"hOI!! im temmie!!!" barked a doglike creature with floppy ears, a tiny mouth, and a perpetual sugar high.
"im temmie!!!" said another.
"im temmie!!!" said a third. "don forget my friend!"
The fourth grinned. "I'm Bob."
If this place could be called a town or village, it was by far the weirdest. A rough-hewn statue of Tem stood beside a ramshackle shop entrance while various Temmies trotted to and fro, except for one of them, who hid behind a crack in the wall. Nearby, a single mushroom performed an interpretive dance.
The twins felt...something. Detemmined?
"Let's save!" said Verdana, snapping out of it and pointing at the golden star.
"No, wait!" cried Vivaldi, yanking her arm away from her brother. "We don't know if Mommy's okay! What if A-Aunt Undyne…?"
"Mommy's fine. I know it," Verdana said, his voice firm, though his hair clip flamed. He held out his bony hand to Vivaldi as the Temmies tilted their heads, puzzled. "We'll go save 'em. Right?"
"Right. Let's save Mommy," said Vivaldi, her jawbone set with determination. She reached to touch the save star with Verdana.
Leaving the Temmie Village behind, the twins regained their bearings and ran back the way they came. When Vivaldi began to stumble, however, the siblings paused to rest on the corner of a warped pier. Other than the distant grunts of a flexing Aaron, all was quiet and still. Even the Echo Flowers were silent.
Splash!
The twins spun to their left. In a patch of soil amid water sausages sprang a flower that sent shivers up the twins' spines. Ripples of water reflected blue on the flower's extending vines and golden petals.
Flowey smiled. "Howdy~"
"Go away!" Verdana shouted, frowning and clenching his fists as he aimed a score of razor sharp bones at Flowey. He had more than enough of this flower picking on his mom and sis, and now, his mom was in trouble far away in the middle of Waterfall. The last thing the boy wanted or needed was for this meanie to get in his way. "Leave us alone!"
"Sure, kid." Flowey laughed. Lowering his eyelids, he said, "I came here to help you out, but if you want to chase me away again—"
"Wait, you know us?" said Vivaldi, fidgeting with her barrette. Back home, most of her prank improvements played upon people not recognizing them as either humans or monsters, even while wearing the same clothes.
"Kinda hard to forget hybrid monster-humans. Boy, did you surprise me back in the Ruins. I've never seen anything like your souls," said Flowey, sickening sweetness creeping into his voice as he rested his blossom on his leaf and narrowed his eyes at the skeletal twins. "You kinda remind me of that smiley trashbag. Hmm…."
Suddenly, Flowey lashed out a vine and yanked Verdana upside-down by his ankle, raising and dangling him helplessly high above the waters.
"VER!" cried Vivaldi, magic bursting through her whole body. Then, a large, oblong skull appeared above the shocked girl and aimed its gaping maw at Flowey. For a split second, the cavern itself erupted in a blaze of red as the blaster fired.
Flowey lowered Verdana and slipped beneath the waves just in time to spare his main blossom. Splashing through the surface once more, he eyed his burnt, shriveled vines and tsked. "Hey, watch it," he chided, smirking. "You almost killed me~!"
Vivaldi collapsed onto the ground, trembling, as Verdana crawled to her side. Her blaster vanished. Then, the twins stared at Flowey, their orbits wide with horror.
"Now that I got your attention, listen up. Your mom's the only obvious human, right?" said Flowey, easing closer to the twins and lifting their quaking chins with his charred leaves. "Too bad. No wonder Undyne's out there stealing their soul."
"You saw Mommy?!" cried Vivaldi and Verdana in unison.
"Yup. That fish lady's probably skewering them as we speak," Flowey continued, bobbing on his stem as his eyes twinkled. "Oopsie!" he said, sticking out his tongue, "Those clips of yours are glowing again."
It was true. The more the twins shook with fear and anger, the brighter their crystal buttercups shined. And though the power felt much too big to control, it also felt strong. Very strong.
"...You could use that magic to fight Undyne, if you wanted to. Not like she'll ever give up otherwise. Take my advice, kids," Flowey said, with a broad, cheerful grin. "Down here, it's kill or be killed."
Before the twins could so much as rattle their bones at Flowey, he retracted his vines, sank into the boggy soil, and disappeared. Left alone, the twins huddled together while Vivaldi stared at the damp ground. Both knew exactly what had happened.
"V-Ver," Vivaldi stammered, "I…."
"Uncle Papyrus woulda loved it," Verdana said, elbowing her.
"Really?" Vivaldi glanced at him, still numb.
"Yeah. Come on," said Verdana, waiting for his sister to nod and helping her to stand. "Mom's waiting!"
Vivaldi and Verdana raced to retrace their steps, their worry speeding them past the spot from which they first ran away. This time, they ran so fast that they tripped over a loose plank on a narrow, slippery bridge and collided with something that turned out to be a someone: the monster kid from earlier. When the twins fell forward, the lizard child fell back, tumbled onto their torso, rolled over the side, and grabbed the wooden edge with their teeth.
Dull clanks of heavy armor rang in the distance. Undyne?
The monster kid was slipping. There was no time. Turning human, Vivaldi and Verdana dashed to the kid's side and bent forward to brace their friend's round head in their soft hands. At the same time, the twins propped the kid's feet with magic and, straining to keep it in control, helped the frightened kid scramble to safety.
Before the twins could apologize for the accident, however, Undyne appeared. Up close, she was nowhere near the size of the giant monster they knew from their world, but she still loomed large and imposing, her movements graceful and lethal.
And Frisk was missing.
Just then, the monster kid wedged their body between the twins and their idol. "Yo...you said to stay away, U-Undyne, but—but they're my friends!"
Undyne halted with poise more like a statue than a living monster. Her hair fluttered in the wind. Then, to the children's collective shock, she backed away.
"Hey, is Undyne right?" the monster kid asked, once the three of them were alone and could catch their breath. "She said your mom's a human. But you just used magic!"
Vivaldi and Verdana gave each other a long look.
"We're humans," said Vivaldi, nodding, "and monsters."
"Our mom's human. Dad's a monster. See?" Verdana turned his hand from flesh to bone and back. "That's why we had to run away."
"...Okay." The monster kid, their decision made, clenched their jaw and nodded. "Let's go find your mom!"
It did not take long at all. Soon, the children skidded to a halt before the black shadow of a massive peak—except for the monster kid, who faceplanted. Viv and Ver helped their friend up and took in the scene: Undyne flinged off her helmet in frustration and berated Frisk about disgracing flowery swordswomen and hiding behind disguised monster children. Finally, she demanded that their mother enter battle with her when ready.
"Ver! Over there!" Vivaldi shouted, pointing to a glowing star that Frisk was leaving behind. "Hurry!"
As their monster friend watched, puzzled, the twins ran toward the narrow passage, held hands, and touched the invisible save point together, feeling health and life flow into them. Then, they ran ahead in tandem and waved their friend a grateful goodbye. Magic surged through them in their urgency, letting them teleport in several short hops toward their mother, though the extra bursts of power hurtled them too far, making it their turn to fall flat on their faces.
Lifting their heads, they saw that Frisk was already weak, struggling to deflect Undyne's arrows while being pinned by her green power, and that they kept getting hit—once, twice, three times, more—but Undyne would not stop. This was not Aunt Undyne, but it seemed any Undyne refused to back down from a fight.
Maybe the flower was right, after all. Some people would not stop fighting. Not until you made them stop.
Verdana reached into his pocket and drew out the Toy Knife he had found in the Ruins. Vivaldi nodded. This would take all their strength and focus. Changing to monster form, they rushed forward, cupped their mouths, and shouted.
"HEY!"
Undyne flinched and Frisk gasped in shock as the twin skeletons, aflame with red magic, suddenly appeared between them. Vivaldi plunged a heart-shaped border of bones into the ground while, in a flash, Verdana grabbed the Toy Knife and carved a pair of names:
'Undyne Alphys'
"Sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" cried Verdana and Vivaldi in sing-song. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes—"
"H-hey, punks!" Undyne sputtered, gnashing her teeth as her cheeks flushed, "Quit it!"
"We'll never quit!" Returning to human form but still glowing with crimson monster magic, they said, "Leave our mommy alone!"
Undyne grasped in her gauntlet another green spear that she was ready to hurl at Frisk, but at the twins' transformation, she balked. This was nothing like a disguise. Frisk took that moment to grab the children and run.
"Come back here!" Undyne growled, following them toward a distant, fiery corridor, certain only that the final human Asgore needed was getting away. Her heavy armor slowed her down, but not as much as the weight of her quarry's two children. Undyne kept running, inching closer. "Nnnngggaaaaahhhhh!"
"Mommy, we're in Hotland!" yelled Vivaldi as they dashed past a giant marquee. The cavern walls now reflected bright orange lava. Immediately, the phone rang in Frisk's pocket. Verdana picked it up while his mother was busy fleeing for their lives.
"I was just thinking—" It was Uncle Papyrus. "—you, me, and Undyne should all hang out sometime! I think you would make great pals!"
Before the stunned child could say a word, Papyrus hung up.
A second after they cleared a vacant, snow- covered sentry station and crossed the bridge into Hotland, a massive thud and clang of armor sounded behind them. Did Undyne trip and fall? When Frisk set the twins on the ground, they saw that Undyne was prone and baking inside her hot armor. Behind them, Frisk spotted a strangely placed but necessary water cooler. Vivaldi rushed to fill cups and hand them to her brother, Verdana passed them to Frisk, and then, Frisk poured a small river of cool water over Undyne's face and armor to bring her relief.
Dragging herself upright, yet still dizzy from heat exhaustion, Undyne looked intently at the apparent humans. A minute before, she was certain the adult in front of her had kidnapped monster children, disguised them as humans, and posed as their mother in a pathetic bid for sympathy, avoiding their duty to yield their human soul to Asgore and free monsterkind.
Now she had doubts.
Water dripped from Undyne's ponytail and a lump rose in her throat as she locked her eye with Frisk's. The human's soft, pleading gaze was not for themselves; it was for the children—monsters? humans?—who clung to their shaking legs. Blushing with shame, Undyne grit her teeth, turned on her heel, and staggered home.
Frisk then sank to their knees, gasping for breath. The twins hugged their mother's arms until they all recovered. Then, Frisk pressed the children against their chest and murmured, "I am so, so proud of you."
