Well. I'm a freaking hypocrite. I say the next chapter will be up soon and I take forever. I say the next chapter will take forever and it's up within a few days.
NYYYYYYEEEEEEEHHHHH.
Whatever. I don't even know how I got this little shorty filler bit out to y'all so soon. I've got ests in Music and Math, French homework, and Drama club...Ugh. Much work.
Anyway, yes, this is mostly filler and it's short. And right after I said we were getting to the action, too. BUT! Although it's not the best chapter I could give you, there are a few things that had to be done soon, so I did them all in one chapter. And after last chapter, I couldn't just leave y'all in suspense, now could I?
Also, I've been thinking about Undertale and its AUs. Once this fic is done, I might start up one with the cast of the Classic Universe, minus Sans, (although he'll still be in it a lot, since he's my favoriyte, just not part of the main adventure) and plus Ink!Sans, Error!Sans, and possibly Core!Frisk. I do like AUs...and DustTale and FloweyPossessed!Sans are underdone in my opinion. Hmm...Thoughts on this? Yeah, it's ridiculously overdone, but I have a few ideas...
But! Back to the chapter. Here you are, friends!
Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. I own zip ziddly nada.
Alphys dragged her monitor out of her lab in Hotland. Luckily the equipment was small and relatively light, so she should be able to make it to Temmie Village easily.
Her predictions came true as Alphys arrived at the village. The temmies were mixing with a crowd of several monsters-the population of Snowdin and almost every Waterfall monster. The royal scientist caught the eye of many. Alphys winced at the whispers and stares as she made her way over to Undyne.
"Hey, Alphy!" Undyne greeted. "Got the tech stuff?"
"Y-yes," Alphys affirmed. "I j-just need to r-reroute the chemical path-"
"Back it up, I don't speak science," Undyne interrupted. "Do you need any help setting this thing up or what?"
"U-u-um, yeah. I-if you c-could just…"
The other monsters left the two alone, with only the occasional question. Soon they had the equipment set up.
"H-hey, everyone!" Alphys cried, flinching as monsters' eyes turned to her.
"Yo, what's all this about?" Monster Kid asked. Of course, that was when the mob of monsters started spouting their questions.
"Why're we all here-"
"We had to evacuate-"
"So did we, numbskull-"
"That weirdo skeleton said we'd get answers here-"
Undyne cut them off. "Hey! Everyone shut up!"
The monsters grudgingly obliged.
"We have a really good reason for bringing everyone here!" Undyne yelled. "And when we tell you, no one can freak out, because we have this under control. Got it, punks?"
There was a smattering of muttered agreements, and even more worried voices talking over each other.
"Be quiet!" Undyne scolded. "Now, here's the thing…" She paused dramatically. "We have a very good reason to believe there's a human in the Ruins."
Cue panic. Also hysteria. Alphys shrank away from the mob of monsters-this was much worse than she'd been expecting.
"I told you not to panic!" Undyne called over the shrieks of terror.
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" someone asked suspiciously.
Undyne smacked her palm against her forehead. "Ngah! I just said we're gonna show you evidence!"
At that, Alphys' phone beeped. She glanced down, and, eyes wide, shook Undyne's arm to get her attention. "P-Papyrus said t-the human's c-coming out of t-the Ruins n-now!"
"And we're gonna show you footage of the human now!" Undyne continued. Alphys quickly connected their equipment to the camera in Snowdin, and the screen set up against the cave wall was illuminated by a shaky picture of Snowdin forest.
For a few moments, it was silent and still in the Temmie Village cavern, and the footage of the snow swirled soundlessly on the wall. Alphys reviewed the plan in her head-show the footage just long enough to convince the monsters that there was a real human threatening them, then shut it off and lead the escapees to her laboratory. As much as Alphys hated having to reveal her own mistakes-the Amalgamations-it was the least she could do for all these monsters if she didn't want to see them die.
Just as Sans had said, the doors to the Ruins slowly started creaking open. A collective gasp went through the crowd.
Alphys' breath caught as she recognized the small shape. That blue and purple sweater, the fluffy brown hair-it was Frisk. But no-this wasn't their Pacifist friend. This was Chara, who would murder them all without a second thought. And had already, according to Sans.
The cave was still as they watched the tiny human make their way through the snow. Frisk-no, it was Chara-passed directly by the camera.
"Shut it off now," Undyne whispered to Alphys. Sans had made it clear that they should get going as soon as everyone was convinced of the danger.
Alphys started, and Undyne tried to help her shut down the equipment, but it was rather complicated. Then a young voice-Undyne remembered that voice from the few times she'd stayed in Snowdin-the Innkeeper's child-asked frightenedly, "Momma, what's Mr. Sans doing there?"
Undyne's head shot up, and, yes, she could make out a dark shape stalking the human-Frisk-Chara. She wanted to groan. Of course-Sans had made it clear that he and Papyrus were going to follow the 'script' as much as possible to throw off Chara and keep suspicion away. Apparently Sans was supposed to actually do his job and be a sentry.
Well, that wasn't good.
The citizens of Waterfall vaguely knew Sans-he had a sentry station there as well-but Snowdin's occupants stood in horrified silence as they watched the scene unfold. Alphys and Undyne were among them-this was where they'd find out if this was a Genocide run, as Sans had called it. He'd said that the differences were palpable.
It seemed to anyone not in the know that Sans had assumed that Chara was simply a weird-looking monster as he made himself known to the human. There was no sound in the recording, but Undyne assumed he'd said something before holding out his hand to shake. Chara grasped it firmly, a smile not quite reaching their eyes.
Monster Kid gasped loudly. "It has a knife!"
Several people screamed in horror as the human stabbed Sans in the shoulder. Undyne lurched forwards. No! One HP. One HP. This was obviously not part of the 'script'-Sans was going to dust.
But to the shock of everyone, the skeleton seemed almost unharmed by the injury. Even through the grainy footage, the image of Sans' left eye socket bursting into blue and gold flames was clear.
Chara/Frisk's red SOUL was pulled out of their chest, turned bright blue, and used to toss them backwards into a tree. Undyne watched, shocked, as the battle commenced, using blue magic, bones, and those Blaster skulls, as well as unnatural dodging skills-she flashed back to when Sans had told her, Alphys, and Papyrus about fighting and killing Frisk/Chara (Charisk?) over and over in the final corridor-Judgement Hall, he'd called it. Now Undyne understood how that was possible. The teenaged skeleton had skills.
In a blink, the fight was over, and Sans had disappeared. The footage shut off as Alphys yanked out a plug.
"We've got to get back!" Dogamy barked. "The human's gonna kill them! Sans and Papyrus stayed behind!"
"How can we abandon civilians?" Dogaressa added.
Undyne winced. She hated the idea of letting Chara come easily into the Underground with a passion, but Sans had made it clear that anyone standing in their way would be obliterated.
"The best thing you can do is keep the evacuated monsters monsters safe," the royal guard improvised. "After all, there's no one left back there except for Sans and Papyrus, and they can take care of themselves, as you just saw. They're coming now, too. And there's not gonna be anyone left here once Ch-the human makes it to Waterfall, got it? We gotta get going as soon as Sans and Papyrus catch up."
"Where are we evacuating?" Doggo wondered.
Alphys swallowed nervously. "I-I-I know a p-place," she stuttered, gathering her limited confidence. "W-we'll a-a-all be s-safe there."
That answer apparently satisfied the crowd. Someone called out, "What are we waiting for, then?"
Another monster smacked them on the head. Alphys would have guessed they were from Snowdin based on their thick fur. "Sans and Papyrus, dingbat! The skeletons!"
"We should get going," Undyne interrupted. "They'll catch up. Come on, we're going to Hotland.
Sans stumbled out of a shortcut next to Papyrus, his hand instinctively clutching at his scapula. With his 1 HP, the younger skeleton wasn't really accustomed to pain, other than the few seconds of horrible agony that occurred after he was slashed open by Chara. Speaking of that, the long scar across his rib cage wasn't exactly happy with Sans' constant movement. Ouch.
"BROTHER!" Papyrus' alarmed tone made him wince. "YOU'RE HURT!"
"s'nothing," he panted-after all, if he hadn't dusted, it wasn't serious. "we're going off-script, bro-c'mon. let's see if we can get to waterfall 'fore alphys and undyne leave."
"SANS," Papyrus said sternly. "TAKE OFF YOUR HOODIE. I NEED TO HEAL YOU."
Knowing that arguing would just waste time, Sans held back a sigh and shrugged off the blue coat. The sight underneath made him blink. Chara's knife had mostly missed him, but there was a scratch along the top of his scapula-small, but just deep enough to nick off a point of HP.
How exactly was he not dead yet?
The shallow cut in the bone was soon healed effortlessly by Papyrus' light touch. Sans rolled back his shoulder to check how it felt. Good as new. Or, as fragile as usual. Both things had the same meaning.
Confused, Sans pulled up his stats. 1 ATK, 1 DEF...2/2 HP.
2/2.
Papyrus was just as speechless as Sans. Neither could remember a time where Sans had more than 1 HOPE. That was a fact of life. Sans was fragile. If someone pushed him, he would shatter. That was how it went.
But apparently not anymore.
2 HOPE...Sans was gaining HOPE. Gaining hope. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved, terrified, or overjoyed.
Papyrus made the choice for him. He wrapped both arms around Sans, lifted him up, and spun them both around, teasing a surprised laugh out of the teenaged skeleton. Once he started laughing, he couldn't stop. No longer a one-hit wonder. It didn't matter if his HP would probably go down again by next RESET, he had more HOPE. More HOPE, more hope. 2 HP.
"OH SANS, YOU'RE FINALLY GETTING MORE HP! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, BROTHER!" Papyrus beamed with pride. Sans grinned with more sincerity than he had in a long time.
"yeah, bro, guess i am. heh. looks like i'm taking another stab at this hope thing, huh?"
Papyrus set him down. "THAT WAS NOT FUNNY." Then the older skeleton brother realized what he had said. "WAIT, YOU WERE STABBED? WHAT HAPPENED?"
Sans quickly filled him in, confirming it was Chara, and that Undyne and Alphys had most likely convinced the monsters and were now on their way to Hotland to set up in Alphys' secret laboratory. He pulled on his hoodie and zipped it up, silently lamenting the new tear in the shoulder.
"let's go," he decided, grabbing Papyrus' hand before stumbling blindly into a shortcut.
Wouldja look at that? Haha! I keep trying to do other characters, but I also drag Sans back in at some point...Oops. Not really disappointed over here.
Quick recap: Alphys and Undyne brought the monsters of Snowdin and Waterfall to Temmie Village and showed them Chara through the camera near the Ruins. They couldn't shut off their equipment in time and conveniently saw Sans and Chara's little exchange. With everything going wrong, Sans forgot to whoopi cushion Chara and came at her from the front by accident. Chara went off-script by attempting to stab Sans, who dunked her a little before teleporting back to Papyrus, who healed him, and together they learned that Sans is gaining HOPE. They decide to go entirely off-script instead of playing along and take a shortcut to catch up to the evacuating monsters. And that's what you missed, on 'Untrue Resets'!
I kind of imagined I was that guy who summarizes the previous episode on Glee, ha.
Now,the next chapter will actually take a while. Sorry about that. Tell me your thoughts on me doing a Multiverse story with Ink and Error, okay? That'd be great.
Thanks for reading, reviews and constructive criticism are welcome, and have a great day!
See you soon!
-TheEscapedCharacter