There was an elevator and two doors, one to the right and one to the left of the elevator; the phone rang.

"Ready? This is it! Take the elevator to the top of the CORE!" Click. The elevator was the most direct route but first they wanted to explore a little. The right only led to what looked like a fire pit so the child moved to retrace their steps only to get a call.
"H-hey aren't you gonna use the elevator? I guess you can go this way!"

"Um..."

"If there wasn't a huge pit in the way...?" Click. Still wanting to explore, they went through the left door. They had barely stepped in before the phone rang again.

"H-hey, why don't you try to use the elevator first?" Suddenly a figure appeared.

"W-watch out!" The child found themselves drawn into a Fight.

"Th-that was close... Wh... why are there so many monsters here?" That was a good question.

"I mean... it's no problem, r-r-right? W-w-we've just got to keep heading forward!" The child nodded. Click. There was some weird sort of sign above the door at the other end of the room. Well, that could wait for later right? The child went back to the first room and tried the elevator; they moved in front of it; nothing happened, they pressed a button, still nothing. The phone rang again.
"What?" Alphys again.

"The elevator should be working... W-well then, let's go to the left!" The child headed back to the door on the left, was this Mettaton's doing? After all the robot owned MTT and the elevator there wasn't working... so was it possible this one wasn't either for the same reason? The next room had an electrical bolt blocking the way. The phone rang again; the child wasn't surprised it was Alphys.

"Looks like you can't proceed until you hit the switch. B-but those laser traps will activate when you do. Ummm... looks like they'll come in this order: orange, orange, blue." Wasn't that just swell?

"Got it?" They nodded.

"Move until the third one." Click. The child hit the switch, turning off the beam but doing so activated the laser traps beyond. Immediately the lasers activated and the child saw that Alphys had it wrong! They stood still for the first two and moved for the last. They went by rather quickly so it was only their quick thinking that kept them from being hurt. The phone didn't ring until they'd crossed the glass-looking bridge.

"Oh my god... Are you hurt?" The child shook their head.

"I... I'm so sorry, I... I gave you the wrong order."

"I noticed."

"... Everything's going to be fine, okay?" She didn't sound so sure.

"L-let's just keep heading to the right." Click. The child did so only to notice there was another path in the next room. The phone rang again.

"A crossroads... Uhhh... Uhhhh... Tr... try heading to the right." Click. Should they trust Allphys' judgement on this? It didn't seem that she knew for sure... and she'd been wrong with the last one... left it was. The child took the left room only to run into a monster in a dead end. The phone rang again.

"A-are you okay? Why didn't you head to the right...? C-c'mon... Y-you trust me, d-don't you?" Click. Wasn't sure if I should... looks like I should have. The child thought and left the room to head to the right. The next room had more lasers, but these were a mix of moving and stationary. The phone rang.

"M... more lasers... Okay, I ... won't mess around this time. I'll just deactivate the lasers and let you through." That sounded like a good plan.

"They're... they're not turning off... I can't turn them off, I... I-i-it's okay! I have this under control!" Who was she trying to reassure? Them or herself?

"I'm going to turn off the power for the whole node. Then you could walk across." So that would mean walking in the dark... oh well, if that worked then so be it. The power shut off.

"Okay, go!" Click. They set off but part way through there they stopped when the phone rang again.

"W-WAIT! STOP!" What now? The power flickered on and the child nearly yelped, they were surrounded by blue lasers! It was a good thing they'd stopped! Well... now this meant that they couldn't move.

"Th-the power... it's turning itself back on." Turning itself on? How could it just do that? The child frowned a little, someone else had to be... Mettaton probably. They thought as they looked at the row of lasers ahead of them and listened to Alphys.

"D-damn it... Th-this isn't supposed to..." Did she just cuss? And wait.. this wasn't supposed to happen? Was she confessing to controlling this whole thing?

"I... I'm going to turn off the power again. When it turns off, move a little and then STOP. OK? Y-you won't get h-h-hurt." Click. Trusting Alphys on this, they moved as soon as the power went off again; as soon as the lights began flickering the child stopped and when the lights went on again so did the lasers. The child was standing right in a blue laser when it activated again, they didn't move until the power went out again and then they headed across the bridge in the dark. This continued until they reached the other end of the bridge and were free of the lasers. The phone rang again.

"S-see? I've got everything under control. Everything's under control!" Hmmmm... The child continued on. The next room had a "save point" and the phone rang again; the child really had to wonder why she bothered hanging up if she was going to call so much.

"OK! Y-you should... You should... I don't know? This doesn't look like my map at all..." Was her map outdated?

"I'm sorry... I... I..."

"Don't worry about it Alphys. You've helped me get this far. I'm sure I can figure it out."

"... I have to go." Click. The child sighed and went to the "save point" and touched it before looking at their options. Left, right... straight... Let's try looking at the signs first... They went over to the sign on the left side:

North, the warrior's path

West, the sage's path

Any path leads to the End

Now what did that mean? The child went over to the sign on the right:

East...

The End

Well, okay then. East... right, it was. The child headed down that path a moment before pausing. Wait... what if "the end" meant like a dead end? They headed back and took the straight path this time. The path let to a cross roads again... one path went right and had a sign:

Get lost...

And stay that way.

Well that wasn't nice. Curious, the child took that path and found that there was a way back, a path further ahead was blocked by a laser and had a sign nearby; there was also a sign near the end of this hall and a hall to their immediate left. They read the sign next to them:

To the East!

This is The End.

Okay then... They read the other sign:

I cannot fight.

I cannot think.

But, with patience,

I will make my way through.

Ummm... that was a strange sign. The child took the path that had been to their left. They came to yet another crossroads... straight or to the left... They went straight only to find a room with a trash can in it. They looked in and found 100 gold. Who would throw that away? Well, this was a dead end. The child backtracked and took the left path. Another crossroads. Geez, how many of these ARE there?! Aside from the path ahead, there was one to the left that probably led back to the start and one to their right. There was also a sign near the path just ahead. So the child went over to read the sign:

Traverse the northern room,

and The End will open.

Huh? What was that supposed to mean? Oh well... maybe if they took the path that had been to the right... So that was the path they took. It led them to another room with a bridge. At least this was different, maybe they were making progress? It was hard to tell with all the twists and turns in those hallways. They walked across only to be stopped by a monster that emerged from the darkness around the bridge, pushing them into a Fight, a double fight because it wasn't just one monster, but two. This happened another two times, but the child didn't give in and made their way across to another room with yet another bridge. Across the bridge there were no monsters, and at the end was an elevator that while its doors opened it didn't lead up, and a save point; there was also a doorway with that strange sign that they'd seen on that first door when they'd taken the left route. They touched the "save point" and headed for the door. The child wasn't too surprised to find Mettaton was waiting for them.

"OH YES. THERE YOU ARE DARLING. IT'S TIME TO HAVE OUR LITTLE SHOWDOWN." Showdown? Did this make this the final time? The child hoped so, Mettaton was amusing, but four times of encountering the same monster was a little much... They were certainly persistent. The child had to give the robot that much.

"IT'S FINALLY TIME TO STOP THE "MALFUNCTIONING" ROBOT. ... NOT! MALFUNCTION? REPROGRAMING? GET REAL. THIS WAS ALL JUST A BIG SHOW." I knew it! I knew something was fishy about all the times Mettaton appeared... this whole thing was fake... well, except maybe this last bit...

"AN ACT. ALPHYS HAS BEEN PLAYING YOU FOR A FOOL THE WHOLE TIME. AS SHE WATCHED YOU ON SCREEN, SHE GREW ATTACHED TO YOUR ADVENTURE. SHE DESPERATELY WANTED TO BE A PART OF IT. SO SHE DECIDED TO INSERT HERSELF INTO YOUR STORY." While that might be true, the child didn't think that she meant any harm by it; what was the trouble, after all, with wanting to share something with someone?

"SHE REACTIVATED PUZZLES. SHE DEACTIVATED ELEVATORS. SHE ENLISTED ME TO TORMENT YOU. ALL SO SHE COULD SAVE YOU FROM DANGERS THAT DIDN'T EXIST." As I thought... it was just a big act as he said. Still... it was fun.

"ALL SO YOU WOULD THINK SHE'S THE GREATEST PERSON... THAT SHE'S NOT. AND NOW, IT'S TIME FOR HER FINEST HOUR. AT THIS VERY MOMENT, ALPHYS IS WAITING OUTSIDE THE ROOM. DURING OUR "BATTLE' SHE WILL INTERRUPT. SHE WILL PRETEND TO "DEACTIVATE" ME, "SAVING" YOU ONE FINAL TIME. FINALLY. SHE'LL BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR ADVENTURE."

"So what? What's wrong with that?" The child didn't understand, if this was just a game she was playing, what was the harm of playing along? Mettaton seemed to either not hear or chose to simply ignore the question.

"YOU'LL REGARD HER SO HIGHLY THAT SHE'LL EVEN BE ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU NOT TO LEAVE." The child jolted. Not leave? Did she understand that they had to leave? Not just them... but all the monsters...

"... OR NOT. YOU SEE, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PREDICTABLE CHARADE. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY. MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, THE AUDIENCE DESERVES A GOOD SHOW DON'T THEY? AND WHAT'S A GOOD SHOW... WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?" Plot twist? What did Mettaton have in mind?

"H-hey!" It was Alplhys, as Mettaton had said, she was just beyond the door... the door they realized had just locked...

"Wh-wh-what's going on?! Th-th-the door just locked itself!" Yup, they hadn't been seeing things, Alphys was locked out... which locked them in with the not-so-killer robot. The child glanced from the locked door back to Mettaton.

"SORRY, FOLKS! THE OLD PROGRAM'S BEEN CANCELED!" Red lights suddenly flickered on around Mettaton.

"BUT WE'VE GOT A FINALE THAT WILL DRIVE YOU WILD!" Suddenly the room's floor rose up, slowly at first then faster and faster. There was no where to go.

"REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED!" Oh crap...

"ON OUR NEW SHOW... "ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!" A Fight began, the child remembered what Alphys had done to their phone and hoped that it really did work... They chose the "burn" option, not sure if this would work or if it was just a fake like the rest of the things Alphys had put them through.

"YES, I WAS THE ONE WHO RE-ARRANGED THE CORE!" No wonder Alphys' map was useless! Mettaton had done something that she hadn't predicted or planned for!

"I WAS THE ONE WHO HIRED EVERYONE TO KILL YOU!" Well, that explained the other monsters that Alphys hadn't expected either.

"THAT, HOWEVER, WAS A SHORT-SIGHTED PLAN. YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE BETTER? KILLING YOU MYSELF!" Was the robot serious about that this time? The child hit the "z" on their phone but it didn't seem to phase the robot.

"THAT WORTHLESS PEA-SHOOTER WON'T WORK ON ME, DARLING." Damn... I should have known! Still they kept firing... it was all they had.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ACTING IS!?" Yeah... I do... but what else can I do? They were determined to beat Mettaton... somehow.

"LISTEN, DARLING, I'VE SEEN YOU FIGHT. YOU'RE WEAK. IF YOU CONTINUE FORWARD, ASGORE WILL TAKE YOUR SOUL. AND WITH YOUR SOUL, ASGORE WILL DESTROY HUMANITY."

"I have to try..." Mettaton caused blocks to fall down, the child dodged and fired at the blocks, their shooter at least was good for something, the blocks were blown up by the shooter.

"BUT IF I GET YOUR SOUL, I CAN STOP ASGORE'S PLAN!"

"Yeah? How?" The child asked, there weren't anymore blocks; the child wanted to buy some time to think... How else did one defeat a supposedly invincible enemy except to keep them talking so that maybe a weakness could be found... or maybe they'd figure out a way to befriend him.

"I CAN SAVE HUMANITY FROM DESTRUCTION!" Persistent about that... It didn't exactly answer the question though and the child had to dodge and blast more blocks, though this time they were columns.

"THEN USING YOUR SOUL, I'LL CROSS THE BARRIER... AND BECOME THE STAR I'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BEING!" So that was it. Mettaton dreamed of being famous.

"HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS...NO! MILLIONS OF HUMANS WILL WATCH ME!" More blocks, the child dodged them.

"GLITZ! GLAMOUR! I'LL FINALLY HAVE IT ALL! SO WHAT IF A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE? THAT'S SHOW BUSINESS, BABY!" The phone rang, the child picked up, hoping Alphys had some idea...

"U... uh... I can't see what's going on in there... but... D-d-don't give up, okay!? Th... there's o-one l-l-last way to beat Mettaton... It's... um... it's... This is a work in progress, so don't judge it too hard... But, you know how Mettaton always faces f-f-forward? That's because there's a switch on his backside. S-s-so if y-y-you c-c-can turn him around... um... And, um... press th-th-th-th switch... He'll be... um... He'll be... vulnerable. Well, g-g-gotta go!" Click. The child took a deep breath.

"Hey Mettaton, is that a mirror behind you?"

"OH? A MIRROR? RIGHT, I HAVE TO LOOK PERFECT FOR OUR FINALE!" It worked like a charm, the robot turned over, sure enough... like Alphys said, there was a big switch on his back.

"HMMMM... I DON'T SEE IT... WHERE IS IT...?" The child lunged forward and flipped it before the robot could figure things out. The robot froze.

"DID YOU. JUST FLIP. MY SWITCH?" The robot spun about, lights flashing as he clutched his... well he didn't have a head so it was his body? or the top portion anyway. The child backed up as the robot wobbled on his wheel. It got worse and worse until a blinding light suddenly flared up, causing the child to shield their eyes, but there was no sound of an explosion... Instead the music that the robot had been blaring seemed to change. As the child found the light had faded and they could see again they noticed two spot lights and suddenly fog was coming up from the stage and obscuring the area where Mettaton had been a moment ago. Slowly a humanoid silhouette appeared in the fog and a familiar voice spoke out, though there was something different about it.

"Ohhhh my. If you flipped my switch that could only mean one thing. You're desperate for the premiere of my new body." New body?!

"How rude... Lucky for you I have been aching to show this off for a long time. So... as thanks, I'll give you a handsome reward. I'll make your last living moments... " The fog finally cleared, revealing the newly transformed Mettaton.

"ABSOLUTELY beautiful!" The child stared a moment at the android that stood before them, hoping that Alphys was right that this meant the robot was vulnerable. Then, to the child's surprise, he began doing all sorts of poses. Well... okay then. They saw a board light up, showing the ratings. Maybe if I get them high enough I can stop all this... The child thought.

"Lights! Camera! Action!" Mettaton cried as the child posed for the camera... not that they'd seen it or knew what it was... but the ratings jumped a little... The child dodged the wild leg kicks that Mettaton did, the ratings jumped and as the other danced about, sometimes knocking down blocks, the child danced about as well; whirling out of the way of attacks, blasting the blocks and even posing. At one point even a disco ball with lasers lit up the area and the child had to dodge the white beams while staying still in a pose through the blue. This continued for a while, the ratings climbing with each turn and the child even ate a glamburger and the ratings had jumped at that even as their health returned and their wounds healed. The audience, whoever and wherever they were, seemed to love that. The child did everything they could to boost the ratings even while dodging all the attacks. Using whatever they could to not hurt the robot; Mettaton had said it himself, he didn't want to really hurt them... so why should they hurt Mettaton? They dodged and ducked, posing and soon enough the ratings hit the ten thousand mark.

"OOH, LOOK AT THESE RATINGS! THIS IS THE MOST VIEWERS I'VE EVER HAD!" Mettaton seemed happy at this and finally stood in one place for more than five seconds.

"WE'VE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE! ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME... BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER! LET'S SEE WHO CALLS IN FIRST! HI, YOU'RE ON TV! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY, ON THIS, OUR LAST SHOW?"

"Oh..." The child knew that voice!

"Hi... Mettaton... I really liked watching your show..." Who was it though? It sounded familiar, they thought about it a moment.

"My life if pretty boring... but... seeing you on the screen... brought excitement to my life... vicariously. I can't tell, but... I guess this is the last episode... ? I'll miss you Mettaton..." The child watched Mettaton's emotions. It seemed he knew this voice too... of course! That was who it was!

"... Oh... I didn't mean to talk so long...oh..."

"NO, WAIT! WAIT BL... H... THEY ALREADY HUNG UP." For a moment, Mettaton seemed distressed at this before smiling again.

"I'LL TAKE ANOTHER CALLER!"

"Mettaton, your show made us so happy!" One caller said, then suddenly more callers piped up.

"Mettaton, I don't know what I'll watch without you."

"Mettaton, there's a Mettaton-shaped hole in my Mettaton-shaped heart."

"AH... I..." Mettaton seemed to get very emotional all of the sudden and the child didn't blame them. All those monsters calling in, who had loved watching him even though the entire thing had begun as a farce that had been orchestrated by Alphys. That didn't seem to matter to them.

"I SEE..." He fell silent a moment before smiling a little.

"EVERYONE... THANK YOU SO MUCH. ... DARLING."

"Hmmmm?"

"PERHAPS... IT MIGHT BE BETTER IF I STAY HERE FOR A WHILE. HUMANS ALREADY HAVE STARS AND IDLES, BUT MONSTERS... THEY ONLY HAVE ME. IF I LEFT... THE UNDERGROUND WOULD LOSE ITS SPARK." The child smiled a little.

"I'D LEAVE AN ACHING VOID THAT CAN NEVER BE FILLED. SO... I THINK I'LL HAVE TO DELAY MY BIG DEBUT. BESIDES. YOU'VE PROVEN TO BE VERY STRONG. PERHAPS... EVEN STRONG ENOUGH TO GET PAST ASGORE. I'M SURE YOU'LL BE ABLE TO PROTECT HUMANITY." The child honestly hadn't thought about it that way before.

"HA, HA... IT'S ALL FOR THE BEST, ANYWAY. THE TRUTH IS, THIS FORM'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS... INEFFICIENT. IN A FEW MOMENTS, I'LL RUN OUT OF BATTERY POWER, AND... WELL. I'LL BE ALRIGHT. KNOCK 'EM DEAD, DARLING. AND EVERYONE... THANK YOU. YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!" With a flash of light the Fight ended and the floor seemed to have returned back to the way it had been.

"I... I managed to open the lock. Are you two..." It was Alphys' voice seeing Mettaton lose power like that after the Fight had made them forget she was even there.

"Oh my god." She said when she reached their side and saw Mettaton. She moved over to him.

"Mettaton! Mettaton, are you..." The child didn't know what to say as she checked the robot over before looking away.

"... thank GOD, it's just the batteries. Mettaton if you were gone, I would have..." Was Mettaton more than just a simple robot? Obviously he meant something to Alphys.