Strange Monster HP: 70,002/275,000

*Looks oddly familiar.

*Doesn't seem to want to fight.

*Perhaps you and Asgore can scare him away instead.


Two fireballs roared past the agent's face. When the crackling blue light faded, the queen noticed a degree of apathy in his eyes, as if he was both impatient with and relieved by her presence.


Asgore Dreemurr HP: 250,000

*You asked your ally to keep his distance and attack with ranged fireballs if the adversary steps closer.


Luna placed any weapons he pulled from the fighter craft on the ground and backed away, trying his hardest to appear nonthreatening. Unlike his previous encounter with Chara, this time he even had his paws raised above his shoulders in a half-surrender.

"I didn't kidnap anyone. I have only a faint idea of how your son got into this region of space and even less of an idea how those two humans teleported here without being intercepted by the nearby station. I also admit that I fought your son, but there was nothing else I could do at the time. The important thing is that everyone is okay now, and I don't want to fight you. Let's just stay calm and have a little chat, okay?"

"Then hop into your UFO or however you got here and leave Asriel alone!"

Toriel's protests only seemed to harden the agent's resolve.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

Luna glanced at the wrecked pile of spaceship components. Toriel followed his gaze and returned an accusing glare.

"That heap is a death trap! Just what happened up here between you and my baby? Did you put him in there?"

Toriel stomped the floor once, causing a pillar of fire to erupt from under the agent. The agent narrowly dodged it, but the heat from the pillar was intense enough to briefly ignite one of his ears anyway. He waved and jumped around frantically and eventually blew his ear out, but it looked a tad more tender than before.

"Ow! No, I promise; that's another long story. And that isn't the only reason I can't leave yet. Your son may have information that could help the Morality Bureau catch the most nefarious criminal alive. I just want to ask Asriel a few questions."

"Morality Bureau?"

A wave of recollection washed over the king; curious, blue hologram of a badge looking more and more familiar. Toriel had another fireball aimed at Luna, but Asgore grabbed her arm and interrupted the attack.

"Gorey?"

"Tori, do you remember him? Those monsters from a few years ago? This guy is one of the agents who saved Asriel from the humans. Space kidnapper or otherwise, don't you think we owe him a chance to explain himself?"

"I know, but Asriel really doesn't want to talk about it right now, and if this guy's hunting Gaster, he could put our children in even more danger."


M.B.A. HP: 69,000/275,000 (BURN)

*Still not fighting.

*Not even remotely scared away.

*Frisk and Chara are talking with Asriel.

*Asriel has calmed down a little.


The air cooled around Toriel as she lowered her paw, asteroid once again reaching a comfortable lukewarm temperature.

"Even if Asriel wanted to talk with you, how do we know we can trust you?" Toriel inquired. "After all, you said that Gaster was a nefarious criminal. You could very well put my kids in harm's way by involving them in this."

"Mr. and Mrs. Dreemurr," reassured the agent, "my squad is the best of the best in the M.B. You have nothing to be worried about. Gaster will have to go through us first."

The agent put an electronic device to his unburned ear and waved to the other rocks. A large, rounded, dark, metallic object displaying the shield and star on its multiple fins appeared from behind a mountain ridge and began to coast around the asteroid.


Bzzt.

"Sir, what's going on down there? You've reported two humans plus two more monsters, HQ's traced four more unknown life forms since you first took off, and now you're all having some kind of tea party?"

Luna replied, "Sure. May as well join us, because we'll all need rides in a moment."

The dropship gradually dipped down, hovering around the asteroid a few hundred meters away behind a line of hills.


"In fact, your Highness, there they are now. If for some reason that flying fortress full of goodies isn't reassuring enough, I also have something that you two should look over with Asriel."

The agent gave Toriel and Asgore an electronic chip with the case file on Asriel's rescue from the human village. The Dreemurrs tapped the device; when it spat out a dozen holographic plates into the air, they glanced through the reports, surprised at some of the details of the mission.

"Armed humans? A gunship? Black holes? This is an unusual way of showing how you'll ensure their safety…"

"It's a step or two thousand back, but you had a right to know. So, now you know. One of these paws belongs to someone who gets into trouble and the other, someone who got them out of the same trouble. I brought them home with my own two paws, your Highness. I won't let them get hurt again."

"You mean you really smacked the guard in front of everyone?" Asriel asked, welling up with excitement.

"Yes," the agent explained, "I was the acting commander, and if I knew then that he was the one who did that to you, I would have smacked him many, many more times. I did such a good job at scaring the humans that the M.B.'s considering making me a permanent commander."

Asriel smiled.

"Okay, I'm ready to talk to you about Gaster. But first: Mom, Dad, there's something I have to show you."

Asriel called for help, made his parents jump back by taking on the form he used to fight the agent a moment ago, and then reverted to his child form.

"Remember when the six human SOULs disappeared from their jars on the same day that the barrier broke? The truth is that I was the one who did it. I let them out of their containers and then they started telling me about how they wanted to be free from the Underground."

Asriel opened his mouth to describe what happened next, but the guilty look on his face told all.

"That explains how the prince got here; now, would any of you care to share how you miraculously appeared—"

"And then you absorbed them? Do you know how irresponsible that was? All that raw power could have burnt you to a crisp! You are in so much trouble when we get home..."

"I know, Mom."

With the asteroid no longer a hostile environment, finding the mystery teleporter could wait. Listening to his slightly timid voice, Luna couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Asriel.

"If my word is worth anything, your son used the power of the SOULs to destroy the magical barrier. He did what he did because he wanted to help all of monsterkind, even if it meant risking his own life in the process."

Toriel shook her head and insisted, "No. Not Asriel. There's no way that happened. You said you would come back one day to break the barrier, didn't you?"

"I wouldn't lie about a failure that brought us such shame. It did happen, and your other two children can testify to that effect. Anyway, it's not my business to tell you how to raise your child, but don't be too hard on him, okay?"

Toriel turned to her son and said, "Asriel, we'll talk about this later."