Frisk walked over to the sink to check that Memoryhead was really gone. They saw nothing left of the blobby creature and Frisk sagged in relief.
What the hell does Alphys have down here? Frisk stared absently at the drain.
"That was MAGNIFICENT! I got so many great shots! Of course when the actual show comes out we'll need to edit you out and edit me in but that was an excellent job as my stunt double!" Mettaton called from the doorway. Apparently he hadn't gone very far when he abandoned Frisk.
Frisk shot Mettaton a dirty look. He was lucky he was all the way across the room because the next chance Frisk got they were going to punch him right in the-No, no violence. Deep breaths, Frisk reminded themselves.
Frisk glanced down one last time at the sink and noticed a red glimmer down the sinkhole. Frisk leaned down for a closer look and saw a small red key attached to some gunk in the drain. They stuck out their tongue in disgust as they pulled the key from its nest of grossness.
But hey, red colored slot in the other room and here was a red key. Didn't take a genius to figure out what needed to be done next. Frisk walked over to the other room and fit the key into the slot. To their delight the panel lit up and Frisk waited eagerly for something to happen. Something like an elevator from heaven coming down and taking them out of this hellhole.
It didn't happen. The panel remained lit but no elevator from heaven showed itself to Frisk. To bad it couldn't be that simple.
"Are you doing something in there? Don't do anything important when the camera isn't rolling!" Mettaton shouted at Frisk from the other room. Frisk rolled their eyes and simply walked back to where Mettaton was waiting for them. Despite his words, Mettaton hadn't taken another step into the room where Memoryhead was seen last. He was probably too scared.
"What were you doing?" Mettaton asked. Frisk quickly wrote about finding the key and putting it into the panel. Mettaton was unimpressed but seemed happy he hadn't missed recording anything important.
They left the room and made their way back to the main lobby of the basement. Frisk took a look around to see if the key had done anything in here, and noticed that one of the locks on the door was now glowing red. They tapped excitedly on Mettaton's arm to gain his attention and pointed at the door. Mettaton and Frisk looked over the door and attempted to open it again, but the door remained determinedly shut.
Darnit! Frisk had been hoping the power room would open up to them now. Exploring more of the basement was not appealing, especially after their run in with Memoryhead.
"Hmmm." Mettaton said, "It appears we need three more keys to unlock the door. A pity that we have to do them one by one. The documentary would be so much more dramatic if we placed them all in at once." He tapped one of the unlit locks.
That means we'll have to explore the right hallway then, Frisk thought unexcitedly.
Down the right hallway was a much larger room with several comfortable looking beds, a few potted plants, some shelves with a couple of random items on them, and, surprisingly, a dog bowl lying on the ground. Frisk even noticed a few small pieces of kibble left over in the bowl.
Frisk wrote, 'Does Alphys have a dog?'
Mettaton watched them as they wrote and answered immediately. "I don't think so. I mean, she buys a lot of dog food but I've never seen a dog around the laboratory."
'If she buys dog food then doesn't that mean she has a dog?' Frisk wrote exasperatedly.
"I thought she was just giving it to Undyne for the dog sentries." Mettaton said.
Well apparently not all of it, Frisk toed the bowl with their foot but decided to let it go. If there was a dog down here, Frisk felt more confident dealing with a fluffy dog than the terror that was Memoryhead.
Frisk and Mettaton checked the room. Frisk started by looking under the beds and carefully moving things around, but Mettaton-getting bored again-chose to throw and go. He tore off the bedsheets and took little care with the items on the shelves. One fragile item began tipping slightly and Frisk leapt forward to stop it from falling to the ground. Mettaton, of course, didn't notice. Frisk put the item back carefully.
"If this room is as boring as the last I might have to consider killing you." Mettaton said.
'Boring?!' Frisk wrote angrily.
"One little fight won't keep viewers interested for long."
'Then I'll let you deal with the next thing we come across.' Frisk wrote. 'I'll just wait in the lobby, ready to be killed if there isn't anything interesting.'
"No no no, I need you here to assist me if anything goes wrong!" Mettaton said.
'Doesn't sound like you do.' Frisk smirked and turned around.
"Hey don't just-oh! I found another key!" Mettaton said as he pulled off another bedsheet. A small yellow key, similar to the one Frisk found, was laying on the bed. Frisk made a grab for it but Mettaton was closer.
"Now, if you want to get into the power room and fix the elevator then you'll stay with me and be a good assistant, yes?" Mettaton held the key aloft and out of Frisk's reach.
Frisk made a few jumps for the precious key, but quickly gave up the fight. Honestly they weren't going to leave Mettaton alone. He was so stupid he'd probably trip and die and then Frisk would be stuck down here on their own. Plus, while it killed Frisk to admit it, having Mettaton searching for the keys with them would make things easier. Two pairs of eyes, or-er, one pair of eyes and whatever visual aide Mettaton had, was better than one.
That saying doesn't sound quite right…
Frisk nodded their assent and Mettaton happily put the key away where Frisk couldn't get to it.
Once they were sure no more keys were hidden anywhere in the room, Mettaton and Frisk moved forward into the next hallway. This time Mettaton chose to go right, to Frisk's displeasure.
Mettaton might not be terribly bothered by the large amount of swirling dust in the room, but Frisk was. They held their shirt over their face and tried very hard to not to breathe too much.
"Looks like another dud room." Mettaton said. He went further into the room while Frisk stayed near the entrance. Mettaton would have to drag them into the cloud of dusty doom if he wanted them to go further.
Mettaton continued complaining and Frisk continued ignoring him. They leaned against the wall, and jumped away in surprise when another panel lit up with green text.
How many of these things are there? Frisk shuffled closer and squinted at the text through the fog.
ENTRY NUMBER ELEVEN
Now that Mettaton's made it big, he never talks to me anymore…except to ask when I'm going to finish his body. But I'm afraid if I finish his body, he won't need me anymore. Then we'll never be friends ever again.
…Not to mention, every time I try to work on it, I just get really sweaty…
That was…really sad actually. Frisk breathed in to sigh and immediately regretted it. They coughed and backed out of the room to get a little bit of slightly fresher air.
Alphys sounded pretty lonely. She made it sound like Mettaton was one of her only friends, but surely she and Undyne were friends-right? Except…Alphys had some pretty bad confidence issues. She also admitted to hiding something pretty big, something that neither Mettaton nor Undyne knew about. Alphys felt pretty guilty over whatever she was hiding.
And Frisk could relate to that. Hiding a big secret, feeling guilty over it, while at the same time trying to do the best they could. At least Alphys was now showing someone what her secret was. Frisk didn't know if they could ever tell the monsters what they had done to them before.
No-not could. I CAN'T tell them what I did. They would hate me forever.
But was that such a bad thing? Frisk deserved to be hated. Still…Frisk felt severe pain in their heart just thinking about telling any of the monsters they had become friends with. Frisk could accept their first knee jerk reaction to mistrusting and hating humans. But imagining Sans, Papyrus, or even Undyne's reaction to telling them about their original run through the Underground…
Frisk took a shaky breath, closed their eyes, and tried to stabilize themselves.
I need to stop worrying about this. Stay DETERMINED.
Frisk breathed in and out. They calmed themselves and felt that small glimmer of determination that they clung to. Right now all they needed to worry about was the moment they were in. Frisk grounded themselves in that moment and held onto it tightly.
"AGH!" Mettaton shrieked.
Frisk's eyes flew open.
Mettaton makes a great distraction. Frisk ran back into the room and was surprised to find the fans were on, blowing away the musty cloud. However there was another problem rearing its head at Mettaton.
Another one? Frisk looked at the creature, baffled. Similar to Memoryhead, this creature looked goopy and misshapen but that was where the similarities ended. The monster looked like a giant dog with a large black hole in place of where a face should be. Instead of feet Frisk could see smaller dog shapes that were easily skittering around within the white goop. The creature jumped up and down and the sound of several dogs barking slowly and deeply filled the room.
"RUN!" Mettaton shot at Frisk and grabbed them. Before Frisk could blink they were speeding the other way. The barking noise got a little faster and to Frisk's horror the creature started bounding after them. A strange liquid starting flecking out of the facial orifice.
Any thoughts of speaking with the monster went right out of Frisk's head at that moment. Mettaton's terror and flight response was contagious. Frisk just really really wanted to get away from whatever this thing was and go back to looking at boring rooms.
Except the next room they entered was anything but boring. A large skull hung over a large black pit with enormous tubes coming out of it. Mettaton yelped and turned into the nearest entrance-which turned out to be a dead end. Frisk could only see a TV and a few tapes lying around. There was nothing they could hide behind.
Then, to their excitement, they saw the slot for the yellow key. Frisk moved to alert Mettaton to this, but the robot was already wheeling quickly out of the room.
We gotta go back! Frisk thumped Mettaton's side.
"I don't know what you want but we can't stop now!" Mettaton shouted back.
Frisk inhaled sharply, wanting to shout at Mettaton-when a strange scent caught their attention. Frisk wrinkled their nose and sniffed. Was that…lemon? What could smell like lemons down in the basement?
The answer to their question showed itself way too soon for Frisk's comfort. Before Mettaton could cross in front of the horrifying skull, an eerie laugh similar to Memoryhead's came from in front of them. Another one of those things was suddenly standing in their path. Goopy and white, same as the others, but with large, shiny seed like black things protruding from its head.
Frisk watched as the black things morphed along its face to reveal themselves as teeth as two large eyes popped up on top of its face. The teeth contorted into an angry scowl and the creature opened its mouth to shriek-
"YOU MESSED UP MY BED!"
"Our bed…"
"SLEEP."
That was just enough to send Mettaton over the edge. With loud gasp, the robot's lights went out and Mettaton thudded to the floor, taking Frisk down with him. Frisk fell out of Mettaton's grip and went rolling. The reached out for anything they could grasp onto, but to Frisk's horror they felt the floor fall out from beneath them. Frisk only had a moment to gasp before they were falling into the pit.
Back to the black again. Frisk floated aimlessly, feeling less hopeless this time and more grumpy. Stupid Mettaton just had to drop down in a dramatic faint and get Frisk killed. Frisk was positive when Mettaton wouldn't have even cared, he would only be disappointed that he didn't get Frisk's death on film.
If I come back before he kidnaps me I am 100% digging a hole in front of Undyne's house for him to fall into, Frisk fumed.
"Back again?"
"Who-oh, it's you." This time Frisk heard Gaster before they saw him. Same as before, Gaster appeared as a small dot in the distance before Frisk moved slowly towards him.
"This is torturous." Frisk didn't like waiting around. Knowing Gaster was there made them want to run right towards him but as they had no power over their body in this space, Frisk was forced to wait.
"You could learn a little patience." Gaster said, amused.
Frisk had forgotten Gaster could read their mind. It wasn't pleasant knowing that he could do so, but Frisk admitted to themselves it was a relief being able to communicate so easily after they struggled with everyone else.
Frisk was now close enough to Gaster to see him cocking his head to the side in response to Frisk's thoughts. "If you truly wished it you could speak with them. You have done it before."
"I can't, it isn't as easy as you make it sound." Frisk didn't want to talk about this. If Gaster was just going to heckle them then they'd rather get going to whatever was next.
Frisk glared at Gaster, "I just can't speak properly, ok?"
"You were able to call for help when Undyne lay injured, and you apologized to Toriel before." Gaster pointed out.
"That was-those I can't explain." Frisk tried to look away from Gaster but couldn't. They had always been a quiet child. Frisk never liked talking to others very much, but whenever they did talk before their first run through the Underground Frisk's throat hadn't tightened up with fear. Frisk assumed it was some sort of punishment for murdering the monsters. Whether it was a curse or an effect of Frisk's own mind, Frisk didn't know nor did they care.
But when Frisk really felt like something needed to be said, like apologizing to Toriel or calling for help for Undyne, the words spilled out of their mouth easily.
"Yes…I see." Gaster murmured. "The other versions of yourself I have met most often suffer from permanent mutism or deafness. Your ability yet inability to speak conveys volumes about your past and your pains."
Frisk tried to ignore the stab of sympathy coming from Gaster. He could save it for another version of themselves or whatever he was talking about. Frisk was curious and confused when Gaster kept mentioning their other selves. They hadn't gotten the chance to ask him last time, but when offered the opportunity this time Frisk chose not to probe those questioning thoughts further. They were already dealing with enough right now, they didn't need to bring in clones of themselves or whatever Gaster was talking about.
"Anyways," Frisk tried to steer the conversation into safer territory, "what happens now? Am I dead for good or are you sending me back like before?"
"Oh, right. I assume you will be going back, but I am not the one who decides when and where you go back." Gaster was surprised by Frisk's question.
"Then who does?" Frisk demanded.
Gaster continued, "Of course I could assist you with your return. Perhaps bend things a little bit…but you need to get there first before I could do anything. As I said before, I am not able to predict others actions."
Frisk was about to repeat their question that Gaster ignored but before they could, Gaster began to fade and Frisk could feel themselves being pulled back. They could feel the warm glimmer of determination holding them onto a certain point. Frisk's body and soul felt frozen, but as long as they clung to the glimmer they felt as though they could keep going.
And then Frisk snapped back into their old present moment.
"AGH!" Mettaton shrieked. Frisk, mechanically following the same movements as before, ran back into the room to see the dog monster forming and Mettaton cowering in front of it.
"RUN!" Mettaton shot at Frisk and grabbed them.
Not again! Unlike last time, Frisk struggled in Mettaton's grip.
"What are you doing?" Mettaton shouted at them. Frisk continued to try to escape. If Mettaton fainted and dropped them down that hole again they were going to be mad.
Mettaton slowed down as he grappled with Frisk. Frisk got a whiff of the lemon scent and pushed back at Mettaton.
"You can't die now stupid!" Mettaton said.
I'm gonna die if you don't let me go!
"YOU MESSED UP MY BED!"
"Our bed…"
"SLEEP."
Frisk's heart stopped as Mettaton shrieked and the other monster reared up in front of them. Once again Mettaton's lights flickered out as the robot fainted, and Frisk rolled out of his grasp.
No! Frisk reached out, desperately hoping they could catch the ledge this time. While it might be easier just to retry their escape with Mettaton, Frisk's body was reacting automatically to save itself.
The ground vanished beneath them and Frisk's fingers slipped off the edge-to be caught in a gooey and slobbering grip.
Frisk stared, open mouthed at the dog creature that held Frisk's hand in its weird mouth orifice. The dog's tail wagged excitedly and it quickly pulled Frisk up from the darkness. It let go of Frisk and proceeded to lick (or what Frisk assumed was licking for the monster, it was actually more like goo dribbling) Frisk's hair.
The lemon scented monster said, "That was bad."
"GOOD JOB ENDOGENY!"
"….."
Frisk looked up at Endogeny and hesitantly held out their hand. Endogeny got really closed and snuffled at Frisk's hand before nudging at it with its giant head.
Frisk patted the dog.
Endogeny fell down onto the ground and put its head in Frisk's lap for more pets. Shakily, Frisk continued petting the dog.
Ok. That was-This is…Frisk blinked hard to make sure they were actually awake.
Good dog I guess.
