The child didn't get more than a few steps before their phone vibrated, they looked at it; it was an update from Alphys:

*just realized i didn't watch the fight between undyne and the human v. v

So Alphys wasn't watching all of the time, it was hard to say if that was a relief or not... what else had the other seen or not seen?

They walked a few more feet and the phone vibrated again:

*well i know she's unbeatable

i'll ask her abt it later ^. ^

Really? Could the doctor used text speak? The child shook their head and continued on, it shouldn't be too surprising really, but the phone vibrated yet again...

*for now i gotta call up the human and guide them =^. ^=

Uhhhh... does she realize I can see these? The child wondered as they pocketed the phone again and continued on; there seemed to be some interesting monsters in Hotlands... one looked like a plane with a bow on its... head... if a plane could have a head... and another was what looked like a tiny volcano with legs... hugging that one was dangerous for sure! Not long after walking past the first area the phone vibrated yet again. What the... really?!

*gonna call them in a minute =^. ^=

The child shook their head and stuck the phone back into their pocket. The next room had more conveyer belts, though not in a straight line this time. This was pretty easy so far... what was Alphys worried about? Well, besides Mettaton anyway. Beyond that, the next room had a "save point" and the child eagerly ran over to it and touched it. They flinched a little, remembering just how important such things were... Undyne had proved a formidable foe... and had killed them at least once. They didn't get too far though before the phone vibrated. What the heck? Did Alphys update her status like every five minutes or what? Was she a scientist or an annoying human teenage girl? With a sigh the child withdrew the phone to read it:

*I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO ^. ^

LMAO? What is that supposed to mean? Oh well, it wasn't important. This was easy, interesting puzzle as there was a frying pan that the child picked up. Not sure if it would be any good for anything but it was there... and then they went back to the previous room and then went the other way because that first route had been a dead end. Half way through the steam puzzle though the phone vibrated:

*omg i've had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes

omg i'm just gonna do it

i'm gonna call!

They continued on through the last of the puzzle easily enough. As soon as they landed... sure enough, the phone rang but before the child could answer whoever was on the other end just hung up. Eh? That was just weird. The child moved on to the next room only for the phone to ring again.

"Uhh! H-hi, so, the blue lasers... Uhh! I mean Alphys here! Hi!" Oh brother...

"Hi."

"The blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move!" The child looked at the array of lasers ahead of them, so if the blue ones required standing still then the orange ones...

"O-orange ones, um... Y-you have to be moving and they, um... They won't, um... Move through those ones."

"Blue don't move, orange do move; got it."

"Uhh... bye!" Click. Well, that was a little awkward. Two steps and the phone vibrated, they looked at it:

*OMG I DID IT!

claws haven't shook like that since undyne called me to ask about the weather... v. v

Okay then, but why was she nervous calling me? Does she really not like talking on the phone that much? The child wondered before traversing the lasers without any trouble. Rather, the first two... then the phone vibrated:

*WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME

The child giggled at this and moved through the rest of the lasers and hit a switch at the end of them, turning them off. Although they weren't sure if that would be helpful later or not. The child wasn't surprised when the phone vibrated again in the next room:

*Oh My God i Forgot to Tell THem Where to Go

Well that wasn't a problem, the only way to go at the moment was forward. The phone vibrated again.

*CUte PIC OF ME RIGHT NOW ^. ^

It was a picture of what appeared to be a garbage can with glittery flowers on it. What? How is this a picture of her? Just before they got to the next puzzle the phone rang.

"A-a-alphys here! Th... The northern door will stay locked until you... s-solve the puzzles to the right and left! I... I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!" Click. Well, alright then, there was no reason to not trust her so the child made their way to the right but the puzzle proved too easy; however the puzzle on the left had a laser blocking the way... a blue laser. Great, how were they supposed to get past it? The phone rang.

"Alphys here! Th-that blue laser seems totally impassible! B-b-but! As the Royal Scientist I have some tricks up my sleeve!" Tricks?

"I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take it out!" Click. The laser deactivated, how had she... oh right, the cameras everywhere. Not that the child had seen any on their way through but no doubt there had to be some around for Alphys to know about the laser. The second puzzle proved to be harder, but the child had no trouble beating it after a couple of tries. It wasn't hard really, though the room after that one was easy, no puzzle but the next room was pitch black. The phone rang, the child answered it immediately; maybe Alphys could help.

"H-hey, it's kind of dark in there, isn't it? Don't worry! I'll hack into the light system and brighten it up!" The lights snapped on and revealed what looked like a kitchen with an island counter.

"Oh no." Mettaton stood up

"OHHHH YES! WELCOME, BEAUTIES, TO THE UNDERGROUND'S PREMIERE COOKING SHOW! PRE-HEAT YOUR OVENS, BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE FOR YOU TODAY! WE'RE GOING TO BE MAKING ... A CAKE!" Well that seemed normal.

"MY LOVELY ASSISTANT HERE WILL GATHER THE INGREDIENTS. EVERYONE GIVE THEM A BIG HAND!" The robot clapped along with an audio audience and confetti fell from the ceiling. What was it with this robot and confetti?

"WE'LL NEED SUGAR, MILK AND EGGS. GO FOR IT SWEETHEART!" Sweetheart? Well, alright. The child looked at the counter behind them and saw everything that was needed; they gathered it up and brought it over to the counter island where the robot was.

"PERFECT! GREAT JOB, BEAUTIFUL! WE'VE GOT ALL THE INGREDIENTS WE NEED TO BAKE A CAKE!" This wasn't so bad... what could possibly go wrong with baking a cake?

"MILK... SUGAR... EGGS... OH MY! WHAT A MAGNIFICENT MOMENT! HOW COULD I FORGET! WE'RE MISSING THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT!" We are? The robot lifted a chainsaw.

"A HUMAN SOUL!" Oh crap! The robot advanced towards the child who took several steps back but there was no where to go. Suddenly the phone rang, but it wasn't the one the child had; Mettaton stopped.

"HELLO... I'M KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING HERE."

"W-wait a second!" It was Alphys.

"Couldn't you make a... Couldn't you use a... Couldn't you use a substitution in the recipe?!"

"... A SUBSTITUTION? YOU MEAN, USE A DIFFERENT, NON-HUMAN INGREDIENT? ... WHY?"

"Uhh, what if someone's... vegan?"

"... VEGAN."

"Uhh, well I mean-"

"THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA, ALPHYS!" Mettaton put the chainsaw away.

"ACTUALLY, I HAPPEN TO HAVE AN OPTION RIGHT HERE! MT-BRAND ALWAYS-CONVENIENT HUMAN-SOUL-FLAVOR-SUBSTITUTE! A CAN OF WHICH... IS JUST OVER ON THAT COUNTER!" There was a counter further down, half way to a hall that lead out of the kitchen and it had a can sitting on it.

"WELL, DARLING? WHY DON'T YOU GO GET IT?" That seemed simple enough. The child went over to the counter, but just as soon as they got over to it the counter went down slightly and then shot up. Mettaton came over as the counter was still going up.

"BY THE WAY, OUR SHOW RUNS ON A STRICT SCHEDULE. IF YOU CAN'T GET THE CAN IN THE NEXT ONE MINUTE... WE'LL JUST HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN!" The child gulped, the counter had finally stopped going up.

"SO... BETTER START CLIMBING BEAUTIFUL!" Mettaton then rocketed up. The child wondered if they could actually manage that... the phone rang and they answered it.

"Oh no! There's not enough time to climb up! ... F-f-fortunately, I might have a plan! When I was upgrading your phone, I added a few... features. You see that huge button that says "JETPACK" ?" The child moved the phone from their ear to look at it, sure enough there was a button there.

"Watch this!" The child pressed the button and the phone rose up and then suddenly transformed into a miniature jetpack that the child slipped into it.

"There! You should have enough fuel to reach the top! Now, get up there!" The child nodded and up they went! Mettaton, of course, provided an obstacle course of food... but the child was determined to get to that can! Dodging left and right, they made it to the top.

"MY MY." Mettaton said once the child reached the top.

"IT SEEMS YOU'VE BESTED ME. BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAD THE HELP OF THE BRILLIANT DOCTOR ALPHYS! OH, I LOATHE TO THINK WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED

TO YOU WITHOUT HER!" Wait... what? What sort of killer robot cared what happened?

"WELL, TODDLES!" Mettaton moved away only to float back.

"OH YES! ABOUT THE SUBSTITUTION... HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A COOKING SHOW BEFORE? I ALREADY BAKED THE CAKE AHEAD OF TIME! SO FORGET IT!" Well, that was a waste of time then wasn't it? What was the point of going after that can if there had already been a cake baked before the show? The child landed back down gently, shaking their head; that was one strange robot. The phone rang.

"Wow... we... we did it! We... we really did it! Great job out there, team!" Team? They were a team now? Well, they were friends weren't they?

"W-well, uh, anyway, let's keep heading forward!" Click. No point in going back, onwards it was; though would Mettaton show up again? Why was there a random kitchen in the middle of a place like Hotlands? Did Mettaton do a lot of cooking shows in their spare time maybe? The next room had a "save point" and a view of something that seemed surrounded by lava. After touching the glistening point the child moved on to look at the strange structure and the phone rang.

"S-see that building in the distance?" That was a building?

"That's the Core. The source of all power for the Underground."

"Wow..."

"It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity by..." The child had no idea what that meant really or how that was possible.

"Uh, anyway, that's where we're going to go." That was where the entrance to the castle was? That seemed just a little odd, but at the same time made some sense, after all weren't there stories often about castles surrounded by either a moat of water or lava? Although usually most castles with lava around them were those of villains... the child frowned in thought... wondering why that was.

"In the Core is an elevator directly to Asgore's castle. And from there... You can go home." Click. Home... finally. The child had no idea how long they'd been down here, but they were determined to get home. It had been a long journey. Thinking on it, the child felt tired and a little hungry so they sat down and ate one of the nice cream bars they had bought; oddly enough it hadn't melted in their pocket and the treat was still nice and cool... Full from the treat the child lay down next to the glittering point and went to sleep. They'd come such a long way since starting out from Snowdin. I wonder how Sans is fairing... and Toriel... Undyne and Pap- That was the last thing that came to mind as the child drifted off to sleep.