So I got a new phone. And I figured out how to change the ringtone to the Neutral final boss's laugh.
help meeeeeeee
Up ahead, two similarly-shaped houses sat next to each other. One was a pleasant shade of blue, but the other was a faded pink.
Frisk stared at the houses, noticing that their shape sorta resembled Napstablook himself.
She entered into the blue house, seeing that the door was still slightly open.
The house's interior was rather dreary. Cracks were running through the walls, parts of the wooden floor were wearing away, and a large cobweb was sitting in the corner.
Other than that, the house seemed like a cozy place to live.
Near the back of the house, Napstablook was wearing a pair of headphones on his head, focused on an old computer monitor.
The ghost slowly turned around, being a little surprised by Frisk's presence.
"oh... you really came…" he mumbled. "it's not much, but make yourself at home."
The ghost floated over to a pile of CDs on the floor. "uh, do you wanna... listen to some tunes… or something…"
Frisk picked up a disc at random and placed it in the radio sitting nearby. The tune that played was a simple one, yet oddly chilling.
"oh… a classic spooktune…" Napstablook commented. "they don't make songs like this anymore…spooky, huh?"
Meanwhile, Aaron and Woshua were hanging out outside, just as usual… until they heard the spooktune.
Woshua raised his head, putting on an expression of disgust. "… what the heck is that music?"
Aaron nervously looked around for the source, shivering uncontrollably. "I-I dunno, dude, but it's spookin' me out…"
The spooky music continued.
"… This is worse than Shyren," Woshua remarked.
"No way, Shyren is way less scary," Aaron said, accompanying that statement with a wink.
"If you're so scared, why do you keep winking?" the janitor asked.
"These are winks of fear!" explained Aaron, with yet another wink.
The spooky music wasn't stopping.
"Y'know what?" Woshua said. "Forget it. This beat is too… filthy. I'm leaving."
He waddled off into the dump. "I'm gonna go and reorganize the garbage again."
"Wosh!" Aaron cried. "Wait! Don't leave me!"
But Woshua left anyways. And soon, Aaron was all alone… with the spooktune.
"Is this creepy music my punishment for being creepy?" he whimpered, still nervously quivering.
"Please… stop…" the monster said to no one in particular. "I'll never creep again…"
There was no response.
"Wahhhhh!" Aaron shot up through the ceiling.
Frisk was spooked by the music, so she turned it off.
"oh… are you hungry…?" Napstablook mumbled. "i can get you something to eat…"
The child was a little hungry, but she wasn't bothered by it too much.
The ghost floated over to the fridge and took something out from it.
"this is a ghost sandwich…" he explained. "do you want to try it…"
"Sure." The child tried to take the sandwich from Napstablook, but her hand passed right through it. And if she couldn't hold it, she probably couldn't eat it, either.
"oh… nevermind…"
The child had an idea. She pulled out the pair of Nice Creams from her bag, handing one to the ghost.
"Want one?" she asked.
"oh… for me? thank you…" Napstablook extended a ghostly appendage to accept the Nice Cream.
Frisk removed the wrapping from her Nice Cream. The wrapper read "Are those claws natural?"
Although she had no claws to speak of, she showed her wrapper to Blooky.
"What does yours read?" she asked.
Napstablook held out his wrapper. "oh… here it is…"
It read "Love yourself! I love you!" Frisk found that adorable.
The two of them ate in silence. After they had finished, Napstablook floated to the center of the room.
"after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage… it's a family tradition…"
Feeling like garbage wasn't Frisk's idea of fun.
"do you want… to join me…?" he asked.
"Sure!"
The ghost began to lie down, his body becoming sprawled over the floor. "okay... follow my lead…"
The child followed suit, lying down on the floor. As she expected… it was really boring. But it was soothing, in a sort of way that was hard to describe.
She soon got up, thanked Napstablook for the time, and bid goodbye, fully refreshed to explore a little more.
Frisk took a visit to the house of Napstablook's neighbor. The door was locked, but it looked like it had been so for a long time.
Out of curiosity, she pulled out the key she had found earlier, since its appearance was similar to the lock on the door.
To her surprise, despite the key being bent… it fit perfectly. She turned the key, and the door unlocked. She knew that she shouldn't be breaking into other people's houses, but curiosity was getting the best of her.
The child slipped inside, finding the light switch and turning it on.
The first thing that caught her eye when she entered was that entire interior was a vibrant shade of pink: the walls, the floors, even the furniture. Large, five-pointed stars were painted all over the walls. A poster depicting a dancing human couple was placed on the back wall, close to the neatly made bed.
If Frisk had not found the key in the garbage dump, she would have thought that someone was still living here, since it was in such good condition.
Five books with identical appearances were strewn across the floor. Frisk picked one up and began to read.
"Dear Diary: Shyren's sister 'fell down' recently. It's sad. Without her sister to speak for her... she's become more reclusive than ever."
"So I reached out to her, and told her... that she, Blooky, and I should all perform together sometime. She seemed to like that idea."
The rest of the pages of the diary were blank, so Frisk moved on to the next one.
"Dearer Diary: I like to buy a new diary for every entry I make. I love to collect diaries."
Again, the rest of the pages were blank. Frisk was sensing a pattern here, so she moved on to the next.
"Dearest Diary: Our cousin left the farm to become a training dummy. That leaves just Blooky and I."
"Blooky asked me if I was going to try to become corporeal, too. He sounded so… resigned…"
"Come on, Blooky. You know I'd never leave you behind. And besides... I'd never find the kind of body I'm looking for, anyway."
Yet this house seemed abandoned, despite the cheery decor.
What happened?
"My Darling Diary: I met someone... interesting today. Last week I posted that advertisement for my Human Fanclub. Today was our first meeting. Only one other person came."
"Honestly, she's a dork. And she's obsessed with these awful cartoons. But she's kind of funny, too... I want to see her again."
The child grinned. Wherever Napstablook's neighbor was… they would probably be excited if they knew that a human was in their house right now.
"Diary… My dear: She surprised me with something today. Sketches of a body that she wants to create for me... a form beyond my wildest fantasies."
"If I became corporeal in a form like that, I could finally feel like... 'myself.' After all, there's no way I can be a star the way I am now."
"Sorry, Blooky. My dreams can't wait for anyone…"
As she finished the last diary, a voice came from behind her.
"how did you get into my cousin's house…?"
Frisk turned around and noticed that Napstablook was peeking inside.
"Oh… I'm sorry," Frisk apologized. "Should I be leaving?"
"no… it's fine… i just thought that since the lights were on… that…" The ghost didn't finish that thought.
As Napstablook floated in to join her, Frisk decided to take a seat on the bed. It was fairly comfortable, more so than the floor of Napstablook's house.
"So… you're here all alone?" she asked, since it was clear that his cousin had left for greater things.
Napstablook's gaze turned to the floor. "yeah…since my family left for other jobs…"
The ghost let out a sigh, staring off into the distance. "but it's fine… things are pretty quiet around here anyways…"
The child realized that, just like his cousin, she was going to leave Napstablook behind, since she was heading towards the barrier… so he was going to be all alone again.
A thought occurred to her. Actually… did she really have to leave the underground? She had plenty of friends down here. Life wouldn't sound so bad.
She dismissed that idea, since it sounded ridiculous. The underground beyond the ruins was too hostile a place for a human.
"hmmm... i should probably try to make friends with my neighbor, undyne…" Napstablook pondered. "she's kind of scary, but i feel like i'm always too late to make friends… i should at least try…"
The child's attention turned back to Blooky.
"So what do you do around here?" she asked.
"oh… i work on music in my spare time… but i work at the blook family snail farm… i'm the only employee…"
"in fact… we can go to the farm and play a game…" he suggested. "it's called thundersnail…do you want to play?"
"Okay!" Games sounded like fun.
Three snails sat on a race track.
The yellow snail was stuck on its back. Its shell was on fire, somehow.
"oh… looks like you encouraged your snail too much…" Napstablook noted. "all that pressure to succeed… really got to her…"
Frisk stared at the flaming snail in silence. Perhaps she had overdone it a tad.
The child waved goodbye to Blooky, as he continued to tend to the snails on his farm.
She returned to the room that bordered the dump, and then took a path to her left. This path led into a hallway, with an alcove in the wall.
Frisk entered it, finding that a little shop had been set up, run by an old tortoise monster.
"Woah there! A visitor!" the tortoise exclaimed, noting that Frisk was walking by.
He invited the child closer. "I'm Gerson! Nice to meet 'ya! Why don't you stick around for a chat?"
Frisk pulled up one of the stools by the wall and took a seat by the counter.
"So… I've been around a long time," Gerson stated. "Maybe too long. Studying history sure is easy when you've lived through so much of it yourself! Wa ha ha!"
As Frisk observed the cave wall behind Gerson, a symbol painted on the wall caught her attention. It resembled the one on Toriel's dress, and the dress from her by extension.
"What's that?" Frisk asked, pointing to the symbol.
Gerson looked over his shoulder. "Eh? You don't know what that is? What are they teaching you kids in school nowadays...?"
"That's the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom," he continued. "The Kingdom… of Monsters."
Gerson let out a hearty laugh. "Great name, huh? It's as I always say… Ol' King Fluffybuns can't name for beans!"
"Fluffybuns?" Frisk asked.
Gerson leaned back in his chair. "King Fluffybuns? He's a friendly, happy-go-lucky kind of guy… If you keep walking around long enough, you'll probably meet him. He loves to walk around and talk to people."
The king sounded like a really nice person. Papyrus had claimed that he was a fluffy pushover, and what Gerson had said continued to support that. Yet there was something that wasn't quite adding up…
Oh well. No sense in worrying about it too much.
"Wanna know why I call Dreemurr 'Fluffybuns?'" Gerson continued. "It's a great story!"
He scratched at his chin.
"Actually, I don't remember it," the tortoise admitted. "But if you come back much later, I'm sure I'll have remembered by then."
Gerson pointed back at the symbol on the wall.
"Anyhoo, back to what I was talking 'bout earlier. That emblem actually predates written history. The original meaning has been lost to time…"
His finger pointed to the various parts of the symbol.
"All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes… somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'angel,' from the prophecy…"
"What's a prophecy?" the child asked. It was a word that Frisk hadn't heard before.
"Why, it's a prediction of events to come!" Gerson replied. '"Here, let me tell you all about it!"
Frisk leaned forwards in interest, propping her arms up on the counter.
"Legend has it, an 'angel' who has seen the surface will descend from above and bring us freedom," Gerson explained. "It says when that happens, the underground will go empty."
The tone of his explanation suddenly shifted. "Lately though, the people have been taking a bleaker outlook… callin' that circle the 'Angel of Death.'"
"A harbinger of destruction, waitin' to 'free' us from this mortal realm… in simpler terms, it means that someone's going to kill us all. Pleasant, isn't it?"
This sent a shudder went down the child's back. That was a terrifying idea…
Gerson lightened up. "In my opinion, when I see that little circle… I jus' think it looks neat! Wa ha ha!"
The tortoise turned back to the child. "Hm… actually, now that I think about it… Undyne just came through here asking about someone who looked just like you."
"…U-Undyne?" the child stuttered. That name still brought her to raise her guard.
"Yeah, she's a local hero around here," Gerson explained. "Through grit and determination alone, she fought her way to the top of the Royal Guard. She's really come a long way since she was a little urchin."
The tortoise leaned his head back and sighed, recalling the good old days. "You know, I used to be a hero myself, back in the old days. Gerson, the Hammer of Justice! Ain't that neat, huh?"
Frisk nodded.
"When she was younger, Undyne would follow me around, to watch me beat up bad guys…" Gerson continued. "Sometimes she'd even try to help!"
"Though, most of the time the folks she attacked weren't bad guys," he said with a chuckle. "It'd be the mailman or something like that."
"Anyhoo, I appreciated it!" he exclaimed, followed by a long, hearty howl of laughter.
Gerson swiftly regained his composure. "Anyways… I'd watch your back, kid. Because… she might just sneak up on you, and then…"
"BAM!" he shouted. "You're dead!"
The child nearly fell off her stool.
"Don't worry!" Gerson said, snickering all the while. "I'm just messing with ya!"
"Also, buy some items," he added. "It might just save your hide!"
Gerson dug into a nearby crate, pulling out some stuff from it. "Here, why don't 'ya have a look? I've got some neat junk for sale!"
He laid out a bag of apples, a few drink cartons, a pair of clouded glasses, and a notebook with pages ripped out of it.
Frisk pointed to the apples. "How much is the entire bag?"
After all, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.
"You want all the crab-apples!?" the tortoise exclaimed. "I don't think a little squirt like you could finish them all."
She supposed that it was true. And it would be a pain to carry around…
"Here, I'll let you buy three for now," he said, pulling out some apples from the bag. "Then, come right back when you want some more! Wa ha ha!"
Gerson gave the child a smile. "I usually charge these for twenty-five gold each, but I'll give you a little discount! Twenty gold each, just for you!"
Twenty times three… sixty, right? Frisk counted the money and handed it to the tortoise.
"And I might as well toss one of these in too," Gerson said, adding a drink carton in addition to the apples.
"That's a Sea Tea!" he said. "Try using it in a fight… you'll be in for a speedy surprise! Wa ha ha!"
Frisk smiled as she shoved everything into her bag. "Thank you!"
As she got up, Gerson waved goodbye.
"Be careful out there, kid!"
Moving on, Frisk found herself in another hallway. A waterfall flowed down the walls, spilling a stream over the path in front of her.
A line of echo flowers stood, off by the wayside. They had continuously babbled to each other, and as a result, they repeated a dissonant, jumbled mess. It was actually kinda creepy…
Small and sparkly objects floated through the air. Frisk found them very amusing. In fact, so amusing, that she nearly tripped over a pair of Moldsmals.
These Moldsmals were of a different color, but otherwise they resembled their counterparts from the ruins. It seemed that the approach that worked back there would work here, so Frisk walked away, leaving them behind.
But a few steps later, she heard a burbling noise from right behind her.
The child turned around and noticed that the one of the Moldsmals had changed its location. The battle box was still there, but there weren't any attacks being dropped into it.
Frisk began to approach it, being intrigued by the moving Moldsmal.
Suddenly, the Moldsmal let out a roar.
Frisk jumped backwards as the monster's body shot upwards, growing taller and taller. As the creature revealed its true form, it occurred to Frisk that this was no ordinary Moldsmal.
In fact… it was a Moldbygg.
The wiggling, fully-extended monster towered over the child, a single eye glaring down at her.
An attack began. White Moldbygg-like creatures bounded upwards through the bottom edge of the box, launching bullets at the child's soul.
Frisk began to slowly back away. The Moldbygg was covered with gross slime, which she really didn't want to be covered with.
She could have sworn that as she got farther away from the beast, it seemed to approve. It gyrated reservedly, seemingly more comfortable with her presence.
Another attack began. The creatures appeared again, launching more bullets.
Once Frisk had gotten far enough, the battle ended. Moldbygg let out a roar of contentment and turned back into a pile of jelly resembling a normal Moldsmal.
Frisk turned around and continued on. Well, that was strange.
The next room that Frisk entered was darkened, bar for the flora that dotted it: a few glowing trees and a couple of mushrooms.
As Frisk approached a mushroom, it began to glow a little brighter. With a nudge from her shoe, it fully brightened, illuminating a path through the room.
Frisk glanced around, noticing that there was something approaching her.
It was a small, fluffy creature. It seemed to be a cat, but that didn't explain the dog ears, or the dark curls of hair on its head. Whatever it was, Frisk waved hello to it.
"hOI!" the monster greeted. "i'm tEMMIE!"
As the monster got close, Frisk's eyes immediately began to water, her nose beginning to stuff up.
One time, some of the other children had hidden a stray cat within the orphanage. Frisk couldn't stop hacking and sneezing for an entire week before the cat was found and thrown back out onto the streets. It was then when she was told that she had an allergy to cats.
So it did not help matters when Temmie tried to glomp her.
"OMG!" it cried. "humans TOO CUTE!"
Frisk ducked out of the way of a flying Temmie. Its face was vibrating intensely, as if it was going to fly off from its head.
"tem… must… pet… hOOman!"
The Temmie excitedly hopped up to the child. It giggled as it began to paw at her leg.
"awwAwa cute!"
Unfortunately for Frisk, the allergies got worse. The child jerked her leg back as she sneezed, nearly falling over due to the shock.
She backed away from the monster. Temmie seemed to be oblivious to the allergic reaction, so it continued on its petting endeavors.
Then, all of a sudden… Aaron floated in.
"Do you know what I think is cute?"
"NO!" Temmie cried. "muscles r… NOT CUTE!"
Aaron edged closer to the other monster, giving it a seductive wink. "Ooh, I have to disagree."
Temmie began to whimper nervously, feeling uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.
It bolted off into another direction, scrambling away from the muscular monster. "NOOOOOO! tem DO NOT WANT!"
After Temmie left, Aaron grew nervous himself.
"H-hi there," the sea-horse muttered to the child. "G-g-ghosts aren't real, right?"
"They are," Frisk replied, thinking of Napstablook.
Aaron shivered uncontrollably at her response. "What? Oh nooooooo…"
He flexed his muscles. "How about we have a rematch to get my mind off of this?"
The child rolled up her sleeves. "Sure!"
Frisk stared at the newly created hole in the ceiling.
Again!?
Frisk nudged the last of the mushrooms, lighting up the paths that ran through the entire room.
But as Frisk was about to leave, she heard a noise coming from a path in another direction. Naturally, being the curious child that she was, she went to investigate. But… what awaited her was a horrifying sight.
Oh god, there was a whole village of them.
"oH!" one of the Temmies cried, noticing Frisk's presence. "Is… a HUMAN!"
"No no no no no—" Frisk began, but it was too late. The Temmies ran up to her with such enthusiasm that they had knocked her over. They began to dogpile onto the child on the floor.
It was like being covered with a fluffy, allergy-triggering blanket. Not as great as it sounds.
"humans… such a… CUTE!"
"must… pet… human!"
"awawawah!"
"Adorable, are they not?"
Frisk tried to get up, but had the wind knocked out of her as another Temmie hopped into the pile.
And then the allergies began to kick in. With a massive sneeze, Temmies flew everywhere.
"aww… hUMAN is allergic TO tem… " one of the Temmies pointed out.
They let out a collected moan of disappointment before they all wandered away. Well, except for one, which stood next to Frisk's head.
"dat OK…" the lone Temmie said. "tem understand…"
"bcause… tem… also allergic to tem!"
The Temmie's face immediately began to swell.
"hOIvs!" it cried, turning around and running away.
The child got back up onto her feet, brushing the Temmie fur from her clothes.
As Frisk observed the comfy and… highly questionable village and its inhabitants, she was filled with… something.
De-temmie-nation.
The child rubbed her eyes and took a second look.
Yes, there was a Temmie stuck in the wall over there.
The most notable attraction in Temmie Village was located inside an alcove. Although it was probably an awful idea to enter it, Frisk did so anyways.
A Temmie sat behind a cardboard box. On the box, the words "Tem Shop" was painted.
"hOI!" the Temmie greeted. "welcom to… da TEM SHOP! u should puchase… tEM FLAKEs!"
The Temmie set her wares in front of the child.
There were three bags, all filled with colorful pieces of construction paper. One was labelled "food of tem". The second was labelled "DISCOUNT FOOD OF TEM!" The third was labelled "food of tem (expensive)." Frisk couldn't tell the difference between their contents.
Since the child had no use for scraps of paper, she looked for something else she could do.
"Can I… —achoo!— sell things here?" she asked.
"yAHS!" the Temmie cried. "tem shall buys from u!"
There was a box nearby. Frisk dug through it, in search of the thing she was looking for.
She carefully picked up the toy knife and brought to the Temmie. Upon being presented with the object, its eyes widened.
"WOA!" it exclaimed. "u gota... toy knifes!"
The Temmie began to sweat profusely. "hnnn… I gota have dat toy knife… but I gota pay for colleg…
The monster shuddered in indecision. "hnnnn…! tem always wanna toy knifes!"
It continued to internally panic, until Frisk placed a hand on the knife and began to pull it back towards her.
"okay!" Temmie finally exclaimed. "tem buy for 101G!"
The child nodded, since that was a lot of money.
As the Temmie was passed the knife, it pulled out a sack filled with coins and handed it to the child. "thanks for business!"
As Frisk soon left the alcove, Temmie waved goodbye. "bOI!"
Upon leaving that horrible place behind, Frisk took a deep breath. Already, her sinuses were beginning to clear up.
Frisk went through another exit and ended up in another dimly lit room. There weren't any mushrooms in this one, but path was lit up by lanterns sitting on the floor.
It seemed that their light was quickly waning, shrouding the room in darkness. Which was bad.
Frisk nudged the closest lantern, causing it to turn back on, along with all the other lanterns in the room. She didn't have much time, however, since their light immediately began to wane again.
After some aimless wandering, partly in the dark, she eventually found the exit, continuing on her way.
Frisk stepped into a unilluminated, narrow hallway. She glanced around, but there was no light source in immediate sight.
The floor was covered by a shallow layer of water. Her ballet shoes were entirely submerged, but Frisk didn't really care. After all, she hadn't found them in the best condition in the first place.
As she continued forward, the room seemed to grow more dim, the child being enveloped by pitch-black darkness like a diver in the ocean. Frisk could barely see anything beyond a few feet from her face.
The room was dead quiet, bar the sloshing of the water as the child made her way through it. At one point, her feet made the transition from wet to dry land, the sound changing to the light steps of soaked feet.
She found that there was a dead end up ahead. As she approached it, she could make out a single object: an echo flower. She propped her ear closer to it, hearing a single voice come from it.
"Behind you."
Immediately, the room illuminated with light. Frisk slowly spun around, a sense of dread in her heart.
There, in front of her… a warrior in shining armor stood.
Frisk yelped in surprise and backed up against the wall behind her. There was nowhere to run this time.
Once again, she had fallen into a trap.
"Seven." came a paced, deliberate voice from the helm. "Seven human souls."
A long pause.
"With the power of seven human souls, our king… King Asgore Dreemurr… will become a god."
King… Asgore… Dreemurr?
"Asgore… do not let Asgore take your soul. His plan cannot be allowed to succeed. Do you understand?"
The child was filled with further dread. The king wanted her dead, too…
She had been told that the king was a friendly person… had they been wrong?
"With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier," Undyne continued.
Her hands clenched into fists. "He will finally take the surface back from humanity… and give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured."
Undyne paused, to let that sink in.
"Human. Your soul is the key to our freedom. Do you understand?"
Frisk nodded out of fear. Her knees had crumpled beneath her, leaving her cowering on the ground.
The captain of the royal guard glared directly at the child. "So… this is your only chance at redemption."
A spear materialized in Undyne's hand.
Give up your soul… for the good of monsterkind…"
She pointed the spear directly at the child, wielding it with both hands.
"Or I'll tear it from your body."
The heroine leaned forward, ready to strike.
Frisk shut her eyes and prepared for the worst, her small, frail body trembling furiously.
Seeing as the human would not give up her soul so willingly, Undyne took a step forward.
Clank.
Then another.
Clank.
The heroine charged straight forward, her spear thrust outward.
Clang clang clang clang clang—
"Undyne! I'll help you fight!"
The monster kid suddenly pounced out of the nearby brush, forcing Undyne to halt right in her tracks.
He turned to Frisk, whose eyes had snapped open at the disturbance. Undyne's spear was mere feet away from her head.
"Yo!" the kid shouted. "You did it! Undyne is right in front of you! You've got front row seats to her fight!"
He glanced around, looking for the bad guy that Undyne was going to beat up. But he didn't find one.
"…wait. Who's she fighting?"
Undyne bitterly cast her spear off to the side. She then promptly snatched the kid by the face and stormed away, taking the young monster with her.
"H-hey!" the kid complained. "You aren't going to tell my parents about this, are you?"
Frisk continued to shudder as the sound of clanging armor grew more distant.
When the room went silent again, the child let out a sigh of relief, allowing her joints to loosen up. But she couldn't relax for long.
Undyne was going to come back… and she wouldn't want to be cornered again.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in Waterfall…
Sans was walking around in the garbage dump.
"what's up, wosh?" he greeted. Woshua was a common sight around Waterfall, since he had a lot of self-imposed janitorial duties. Currently, he was arranging the garbage into symmetric piles.
"Just the usual," the janitor replied.
It was then that Sans noticed that there was something floating around in the bathtub on Woshua's back.
"what's that?" the skeleton asked, pointing to the objects.
"They're the human's shoes," Woshua explained. "I found them sitting around here, and the human wasn't nearby… so I'm holding on to them for now."
The monster pondered over it. "I mean, they aren't even in bad condition, so I'd have no idea why the human would have just thrown them away like that."
"what if she didn't?" Sans proposed. "who knows… someone could have taken them from her. after all, the king needs seven human soles to break the barrier."
"Oh, that's a good one!" Woshua remarked with a chuckle. "Mind if I steal it?"
"feel free. i'm not gonna stop ya."
Woshua then had an idea. "Hey, actually… do you want to take them? You might bump into the human later."
Every monster that knew about Sans knew that he had some strange way of getting around. He would always slip away and end up somewhere else. On occasion, people noticed that he straight-up vanished into thin air. He could be in Snowdin for one moment, then in Waterfall the next.
"alright," Sans agreed. "without them, she might be… de-feet-ed."
For all he knew, Frisk could have been walking around barefoot.
Sans picked the shoes up from Woshua's back. They were a bit wet, however…
Oh well, he could dry them in Hotland.
Frisk entered yet another hallway. Like the last one, the floor partially was flooded with water, so it would require a bit of wading. Echo flowers popped up through the water, repeating the last words spoken into them.
As Frisk walked past one, she heard a familiar voice.
"Where, oh where, could that child be…? I've been looking all over for them…"
The child stopped right in her tracks. She heard it repeat itself, confirming what she thought she had heard.
That voice was Toriel's.
Before she had time to think about it, she heard another voice from right behind her.
"Hee hee hee. That's not true."
She turned around. This voice was familiar too, but it was associated with something less pleasant.
Even in the dim lighting, she could make out the bright yellow petals of the tall flower that stood there.
More notably, the flower was grinning at her.
"How did you…" she began.
"Oh, getting out of the ruins? I can burrow underneath the door, silly!" Flowey said in a mockingly sweet voice.
The child fidgeted, taking a couple of brief steps away from the flower. Maybe selling that knife wasn't such a great idea…
Flowey found her reaction amusing. "Don't worry, I meant what I said back there. I'm not going to try to kill you… for now. Because, it would be completely pointless."
The child's hands curled into fists. "How come?"
"Golly, you still haven't figured it out?" Flowey replied, with mild surprise. "You're so naive…"
He gave the child a wink. "Oh well. Where's the fun in spoiling the surprise?"
He was confident that it was not going to be a matter of if she would find out. It was going to be a matter of when.
"Well, back to what I was saying earlier," Flowey continued. "Eventually, Toriel's going to find another kid. Once that happens… she'll instantly forget about you."
Frisk took a moment to think about that. Come to think of it, Toriel rarely mentioned anything about any other humans, but it was fairly obvious that she wasn't the first that Toriel had cared for. Frisk had forgotten to ask about it during her time with her.
"It's happened over and over," the flower continued with a grin. "In fact, I believe that she's forgotten six, at the very least!"
Frisk recalled what Toriel had said. "They come. They leave. They die."
That meant that there were six humans like her. They had gone through the ruins and met Toriel, just like her. And like her… Toriel had let them all go.
"Hee hee hee… that old hag thinks that she can break the rules of this world," Flowey remarked. "She tries so hard to save you humans from Asgore."
Flowey's voice filled with bitter contempt. "And still, she can't save even one."
"Because she's all too content to shut herself in the ruins and send the humans to their deaths, with the naive hope that one of them will make it past the king."
It was pretty clear that he despised Toriel. But… Frisk could help but wonder why.
"What an idiot!" Flowey shouted, his voice filled with scorn. "You'll never see her again!"
Frisk recoiled from the sting of his words. Was Flowey trying to discourage her, by telling her all of this? Or…
Wait a minute.
"If there were six humans… and they had all died, then… that means…" Frisk thought out loud, connecting the dots together.
"Exactly," Flowey said. "If Undyne takes your soul, then you'll be number seven!"
He continued with a grin. "Asgore will finally be able to break the barrier. And then… humanity will be destroyed."
"Best part is? It'll all be your fault!" The statement was accompanied by laughter.
It was really only partially her fault, of course, since Frisk did not ask to be chased down by a monster. It didn't matter, though.
"But here's the thing," Flowey continued. "There's a way to prevent her from bothering you ever again."
"How?" Frisk was well aware that she was not going to like the answer.
Flowey's face contorted into a menacing grin, baring a row of long teeth.
"Kill her," he said, with the demonic, lower-pitched voice that he had used during the first encounter. "Turn her to dust!"
The thought of erasing someone off the face of the earth terrified her.
"With a stick?" the child asked. After all, that was the only thing in her backpack that Frisk considered a "weapon"… nothing comparable to a spear.
Flowey looked down into the water, right at Frisk's shoes."Hmm… what are those on your feet?"
Frisk lifted her foot out the water, looking at the soaked ballet shoe on it.
"Shoes?" she confusedly wondered. "What am I going to do with these?"
"Oh, I'll tell you." Flowey said, wearing a cruel expression. "Long ago, a human came through here wearing those shoes."
The thought of wearing a dead person's stuff wasn't very comforting, to say the least.
"Now, think back to when you found them," Flowey explained. "Why do you think they were so dusty?"
The child shivered. "B-because… the human killed monsters with them?"
It was then when she realized who had stolen her shoes.
Flowey nodded his head.
"Exactly. Whether they did it on accident, or they truly understood this world's purpose… we may never know. But all that matters is that those shoes… they're dangerous. Dangerous enough to defeat Undyne, perhaps."
Flowey thought over something. "Hm… I might as well show you one more thing. Have you ever tried hitting the box?"
Frisk had not.
"That box is a projection of a monster's soul," the flower explained. "If, say… you were to hit it, the monster would be hurt by the attack. Hit it enough… and the monster will crumble beneath you."
Flowey's voice shifted again. "Now, you know exactly what to do. Get her out of your way!"
A shrill, terrifying laugh burst from his mouth, bouncing off the walls of the narrow hallway. And with that, he retreated into the ground with a splash.
The echo flowers had picked up the noise, and were now repeating it, over and over…
Frisk clamped her hands over her ears and bolted out the room, the sound of constant laughter still ringing in her eardrums.
A single question continued to tumble around in her head.
Was the meaning of the world really kill or be killed?
AN:
This chapter's a bit slow. But soon…
So I found this part in the text dump that I use:
i've almost got a mix cd finished for my scary neighbor...
it's 74 minutes of people screaming their signature wrestling moves
but they're all autotuned. i hope she likes it
I'm actually not sure if it's used or not.
Also in the text dump, except definitely unused: Bepis valley Granola Bars, and donkeykongismyfavoritemarvelsuperhero. I am not making this up. What the heck, Toby. These are not things you should be hiding in a game that makes people cry.
A little sequence-breaking with Napstablook's cousin's house. Because why not.
Allergies suck. Zero out of tem.
And of course, Flowey. Good ol' Flowey.
Next time: an encounter with the heroine who never gives up.