Chapter 12 – Questions Unanswered

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for all the positive feedback. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this story so far!

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Once Asgore finished explaining everything that happened after he woke on bed of flowers in her body, the child was baffled and even slightly unsettled. How was that even possible? Could it happen again? The idea of losing control of her body all of a sudden made a shudder run through her.

It took her a while to calm down. She tried to push the incident at the back of her mind, hoping that was a onetime thing and nothing more.

The king then mentioned Napstablook's invitation to her and the two headed to his house. The timid ghost looked surprised at the fact that she really came over and stepped aside to let her in. He then began showing her around.

"Sometimes I like to lay down on the ground and feel like garbage after a good meal. It's a family tradition. Would…would like to join me?" he asked quietly.

"Sure," Frisk said and lay down with him, placing her arms over her stomach.

She glanced over to see Asgore attempting to do the same, but he let out a startled yelp when his body began sinking into the floor. She held back a snort and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

Once they were done, Frisk decided it was time to leave. She made her way out the house passing by the snail farm.

"Hey, um, wait." Napstablook called out and disappeared for a moment. Frisk exchanged a confused look with the king. The ghost soon returned with a plastic container. He held it out to her timidly. "I want you to have this…I mean take it if you want to and you can say no if you don't like it…"

Frisk raised an eyebrow and took the container, removing the lid curiously. She froze up.

It was filled with snails. Lots of them.

"Mmm, they look tasty," Asgore said next to her.

Frisk shuddered and wanted to groan in disgust, but she couldn't since Napstablook was still watching her. "T-Thanks, Napstablook," She muttered with a strained smile as she stored it in the dimensional box.

"Oh…you're welcome," he replied awkwardly.

"Well, I better be going. See you later," she said and turned around to leave. Asgore was about to follow her when he noticed the ghost's stare. At first, he thought he was looking at Frisk, but he soon realized he was actually looking at him!

"Can…can you see me?" Asgore asked in disbelieve and a little hope.

Napstablook frowned and he suddenly looked….sad. Without answering, the ghost disappeared again.

"W-wait!" Asgore muttered, but he was already gone leaving him alone in the clearing.

"Asgore?" He heard Frisk call out from behind him.

The king stared at the space where the ghost was a moment ago and sighed before flying after her.

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"Take care, kid!" Gerson muttered, waving at her from behind the counter.

Frisk saved away the items she bought and soon noticed the lack of presence beside her. When she looked back, she saw the king trailing behind her quietly, staring at his transparent hands.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Don't worry, it's nothing you should be concerned about," He said, forcing a small smile on his face. The child was already troubled with what's been happening in the Underground and he didn't want her to worry about him as well.

Frisk stared at him for a moment looking unconvinced, but she didn't say anything and continued walking down the damp hallway.

After wandering deeper into the caves, encountering Monster Kid once more and saving him from falling off the bridge, the two found themselves staring up at the threatening figure on top of the cave, glaring down at them expectantly. Frisk gulped nervously and turned to the king who looked uneasy for what he knew was about to happen, but he nodded at her anyway.

Steeling herself, Frisk stepped forward and called out. "I'm ready, Undyne!"

The fish woman smirked and summoned a spear in her hand. "That's more like it. No more running away!" She jumped from on top of the cave and landed on the ground, pointing her spear directly at the child. "En guarde!"

Frisk's soul was drawn out of her chest and she tensed up. Undyne's spear began to glow and with a single sweep, the three of them were surrounded by a green barrier, blocking any chance for her to make a run for it.

"As long as you're green, you can't escape!" Undyne stated pointing at Frisk's now green soul. "Unless you learn to face the danger head-on, you won't last a second against me!"

Undyne then summoned a spear in her other hand before tossing it to Frisk who yelped and caught it nervously. The fish monster's deadly grin dropped a little and titled her head to the side in confusion. "Hey, what happened to your hair? It wasn't like that earlier." She pointed out, noticing there was more white than brown on her head now.

Frisk sighed inwardly. This was probably the third time someone asked her about that and she was getting of tired of having to repeat the same answer. "It's nothing-"

"Oh, I see. It's part of your magical transformation, isn't it?" Undyne cut her off, her sharp grin returning full force.

"W-what?" Frisk stammered.

"I've seen this before in Dr. Alphys' human history films!" The captain added excitedly.

What is she talking about!?

"I've been waiting to fight one of your kind for a long time so give all you got!" she exclaimed before taking a stance. "Here I come!" Without hesitation, the fish woman charged at the girl and swung her weapon.

Luckily, Frisk had gotten better at this than when she did it the first time and managed to block the attack just in time, the force of the strike making her arms tremble a little. Undyne continued attacking, never breaking a sweat. Frisk quickly ducked and stepped aside to avoid being impaled.

"What is wrong with you!? Fight back!" Undyne snarled impatiently, but Frisk kept blocking and trying to distance herself from her opponent.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Undyne threw the spear in her hand at Frisk who barely had the time to jump out of the way of the projectile. "For many years we dreamed of a happy ending. I won't let you take it away from us. We won't be denied from the freedom we deserve, especially by someone as cowardly as you!"

Having ran out of patience, she summoned several energy spears and aimed them at her chest. Asgore immediately stepped in and raised his hand, releasing a fire blast that burned them away. He blinked at the unexpected power behind his attack.

He looked down at the fire in his hand and was shocked by the change in it. The flames were now red and they seemed to be hotter than usual if the bright glow was any indication.

His magic somehow grew stronger, but how? This never happened before, at least not like this. He glanced back at the child behind him in wonder.

Instead of being angry at her attack failing, Undyne looked beyond thrilled. "Finally!" she muttered. The fish woman then began sending wave after wave of spears at Frisk who jumped and blocked most of them, ending up with a couple of scratches and slightly out of breath.

Frisk glanced down to see her soul was red again. She then looked up to see Undyne preparing another attack. Without a second thought, Frisk dropped the spear and sprinted towards the cave entrance.

"Hey, get back here!" Undyne growled and chased after her. Frisk ran as fast as she could through the tunnel and grimaced as a wave of hot air hit her face. Unfortunately for them, Frisk was never a fast runner and just like back in Snowdin, Undyne slowly caught up to her. A spear burst out of the ground in front of the child making her to stop in her tracks.

"Quit running away!" Undyne shouted as she launched a glowing spear directly at her soul.

"No!" Asgore formed a fire sphere in his hand and sent it in the direction of the incoming spear. The two magical attacks collided and the force of the blast was enough to knock Frisk off her feet and send her tumbling away. When she looked up, she saw Undyne marching towards her with a victorious smirk.

"Time to die, punk!" She muttered and raised her spear up.

Frisk cried out and brought her arms up on instinct. Something within her suddenly flared to life and a wall of red flames burst out of the ground causing the fish woman to back away in surprise.

Frisk lay there staring at the flames in shock. Did…did I do that?

"Frisk, go!" Asgore's voice snapped her out of her shock. She quickly pushed herself up and scrambled to get away.

Undyne growled as the heat from the flames kept her from moving forward. There was no way she get past this and the punk was getting further away. She narrowed her eyes and raised her spear, aiming at the fleeing human. It would be a direct shot. She leaned back, ready to put an end to that-

Suddenly, her body stiffened and the hand holding the spear shook. Undyne blinked, not knowing what came over her. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the spear again. What was wrong with her? She was so close. The human wouldn't see it coming. This was her chance to fix all their problems!

The human suddenly looked back at her and Undyne couldn't explain it, but something about the sight of the kid running away like this, about the look she was giving her felt familiar….somehow. It made no sense, none at all, but it made her hesitate in throwing the spear.

When Frisk saw this, she looked confused briefly at her before she disappeared into the dark tunnel.

Even when the flames died down, Undyne made no attempt to pursue her.

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Frisk ran down the tunnel as the air around her grew warmer by the second. It wasn't long until she had to stop to catch her breath, whipping the sweat from her forehead.

She then glanced back at the tunnel expecting Undyne to show up at any second, but the sound of her heavy footsteps can't be heard in the distance so she assumed she was safe for now.

What was happening back there anyway? Frisk was sure that fire wall wouldn't have kept Undyne there for long so why wasn't she coming after her right now? She recalled the unreadable look on Undyne's face when she was aiming at her and wondered what made the warrior hesitate back then.

"Frisk, are you harmed?" Asgore asked her.

Frisk glanced down at the scratches in her hands and legs with a frown. "I'll be okay," she said. It was nothing some rest and monster food can't fix. "What about you? Your magic looked…..different back there."

Asgore summoned a fireball in his hand and stared at it thoughtfully. "Perhaps….perhaps the power of your soul made my magic stronger."

Frisk blinked at this. "Is that possible?"

"It's the best explanation I could think of at the moment." Asgore sighed and dismissed the fireball. "We best be on our way. If we wait too long someone might come after us."

Frisk nodded and began walking again, passing by a familiar huge sign.

Welcome to Hotland.

She hurried down the path until she reached the end of the tunnel and passed through.

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A/N: The concept of soul absorption and the possibilities that come with it is a very interesting one. Anyway, we're finally done with Waterfall. I might take a short break from writing this fic before starting Hotland.

Thanks for reading and please review!