Muns
Frisk walked back down the trail. Echo flowers cropped up along the rivers and waterfalls. For now, they were quiet. They whispered to one another in fields of bioluminescent grass and flowers and crystals.
Flowey perked up as they nearly passed the sign. "Here's another few signs. Want me to read them?"
Frisk nodded as finished off their apple. "Yes, please." They took out the trash from their astronaut food, stuff the apple core in it, and stuffed it back into their backpack.
Flowey looked over the text. "'Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful soul can leave.' … 'There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven human souls, attacks the barrier… It will be destroyed.'" Flowey urged them on again. "There's a river here. Be careful. It isn't that deep, though."
Frisk nodded and slipped into the water. The rush of the waterfall's current tugged at their legs. "Who's there?" "Something moved, I swear it." "It's so very cold…" "Someone will come." "Please don't come near!" "Help! Help me!" "No! Run away! GET AWAY!" "I'll kill you! I swear it!"
Frisk stopped and looked about. The voices came from every which direction- even above and below them. They were so distracted in their search that they couldn't even register Flowey's vine squeezing their wrist. "Frisk?" "The water is too quick. We can't cross." "These flowers are everywhere…" "Someone's listening…" "Do you think we're safe?" "I'm not going to make it… it's so cold…" "Behind the waterfall! Please!" "we're all going to die."
Frisk clamped their hands over their ears and shook their head. "N-no! No! Quiet! Be quiet!" "Solp's the'e?e!ening…" "Do! Rthininmoved, sAW?ar it." "It'elsoHery me!dto die." "Sekieyoe!wilatoaret!Please!" "NleaRu flon't somETery!AY!ere…" "Shut up! Shut up!" "It'elo! Herye?e…!" "ToeRefdowryomET AWAY!ere…" "I'lsmloynu!scsweanit…!" "I'me wateringtovequick. Wit'itan'tcooss."
The voices seemed to grow louder and louder the longer they stayed. "Stop it! Stop!" "NehRuflowery!arfallveWAhere…" "So'rillane'sinstenidit…!" "Be yse doinwwe'relnefe?ase!" "Thenotfloringtooreaick it… it'reso cros…" "Sohintflthe wsterd,ll! PLEASETRE…" "PE'P! HDON'NEOMDIEEAR!"
"SHUT UP! GET AWAY!" Frisk cried and, head down, eyes closed and hands over their ears, attempted to run in a random direction. They couldn't see anything. They couldn't hear anything beyond the screaming flowers. When they attempted to run in the direction of the river, something snapped at their ankles and chest. Frisk staggered back and bolted in the opposite direction. Immediately they were drenched as they ran straight into the waterfall. They tripped over a rock and landed heavily within the confines of a small cave. Flowey's backpack hit the wall with a heavy thump. Frisk scrambled to get as far away from the waterfall as possible. The voices were masked beneath the rushing water. Even then, they were starting to quiet down.
Frisk whimpered and curled up into themselves. Tears rolled down their cheeks and smudged their soaked clothes. For a while, the only noise within the waterfall-cave was their choking and gasping. Water attempted to trickle into their nose and mouth from their soaked hair. They just snorted or coughed and wiped the water away with one of their hands.
Eventually, when Frisk's sobs had toned down to tiny sniffles and whimpers, Flowey piped up in a quiet voice, "Frisk?" Frisk opened their eyes but did not raise their head. "Hey, Frisk. Hey it's alright. We're past the terrible part."
"How many?" Frisk whimpered.
"Oh, I'm sure we're past the two biggest," Flowey encouraged. "This is one of the worst ones, actually. When we get outside, make sure to keep out of the water as much as you can."
"Half of this place is water," Frisk mumbled.
"I know, I know," the flower agreed. "But plenty of it is still firm land. We can get through that. Right?"
Frisk nodded. "Y-yeah. We can. I… I don't want to be here anymore. C-can we go back to Sans' and Papyrus' house?"
Flowey shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. Besides, we'd have to go back through both flower patches to get there, wouldn't we?"
The child nodded. "Y-yeah. Yeah."
"Now, once you're feeling up to it, we can get up and leave. Once we leave this area behind, we won't have to come back. The flowers can't yell at us if we're far enough away," Flowey pointed out with a serene smile.
Frisk slowly nodded. "I… I understand." They looked up to the waterfall. "B-but I don't want to go out again. Th-they'll just be there again!"
"Not if you stay out of the water," Flowey pointed out. "It's just this river that's the worse. Around us, there are a few more along with the marshy area. But the farther away you get, the longer it takes to wake them up and more difficult it gets to hear them. On dry land, it'll take a long, long time to get them to start talking loud enough for you to hear them. It's going to be okay, Frisk. I promise."
Frisk got to their shaky feet and picked up Flowey. They skittered under the waterfall and ran out of the short river as quickly as they could. The flowers grumbled upon feeling the water disturbed but quickly became quiet again. Frisk hesitated as another sign was upon the wall. Flowey read, "'But this cursed place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could come here. We will remain trapped down here forever.'"
When they crossed the next river, they met a very dark place. Glowing mushrooms littered the place. A short trail of glowing grass led to a dull clump of mushrooms. Frisk touched the mushrooms. They squeaked and glowed. Another thin trail of grass began to glow. They followed this one as well. Another mushroom clump popped up. By the time they got to the fourth one, they hit a dead end. However, when they turned back to retrace their steps, they took a few too many steps south. Their feet hit even ground unlit by bioluminescent grass. The thin trail led straight into door in the cave wall.
"Er… I have a bad feeling about this…" Flowey warned, eyes flitting about. They arrived within a deep red and brown walled room. Or, rather, a village. Many houses expanded the southern side. In the northern side was a door with a giant sign reading 'TEM SHOP' above it. Multiple identical monsters crowded the place. All of them looked like small white dogs with cat tails, faces, and paws. Two cat ears popped up the top of their heads while two dog ears drooped from the sides. Long, dark brown hair fell over the sides of their faces and tied back in tight buns behind their heads. Their tiny white bodies were covered by black suits and red ties. As soon as Frisk and Flowey entered the place, all deep maroon eyes were on them. Even the red and white mushroom far away was tilted as it turned to face them. No eyes could be seen, though.
The nearest temmie looked up at them with round, innocent eyes and a great kitten grin. "Hoi!" they called. "I'm Temmie!"
"Hello, Temmie!" Frisk purred.
The temmie beside the first piped up, "I'm Temmie, too! This is my friend: Temmie!" They tipped their head toward the friend beside them. Soon, all dozen of the temmies were introducing themselves. The last temmie, the one sitting idly beside a small picket sign leading to the shop, turned their head to look at them. A dazed, far-away look fell over the semi-isolated temmie's deep maroon eyes. "I'm Bob."
The first one, tail wagging back and forth with the energy of Lesser Dog, piped up, "You should visit the Tem Shop!" All at once, all of the Temmies cheered and agreed and bounced about. Bob slowly nodded his head. Somehow, the action dizzied him so his head flopped to the side and rested against the picket sign.
"The Tem Shop?" Frisk prompted. "Cool! Flowey! Can we go?"
Flowey looked about them. "I don't know. This place really creeps me out."
The first one's grin widened. Fangs hinted just below the temmie's lips. "Visit the Tem Shop!"
The second crowed, "Yes! All supplies a traveler needs! In Tem Shop!"
Flowey leaned back so that his petals brushed Frisk's chin. "I don't like this. We should probably go back up the trail."
It was too late, however. In their excitement, temmies had crowded around them. The trail leading out was blocked by a good half dozen temmies. The one who first greeted them tipped their head. A sadness fell over them. "You no… no visit Tem Shop?" The excitement from the rest of the temmies fell quicker than a stone from a cliff. "But… we invited you! To Tem Shop!"
Flowey's gaze darted about. "Fine. Let's… uh… let's just look and see what they have."
Frisk walked forward. Eventually, they passed up Bob and turned into the Tem Shop. The excited tems bounced around outside.
The shop was colorful and inviting with all shades of red and gold. All of them were no darker than the deep red of a slightly wilted rose or deep yellow of a pyrite nugget. Even those were only used as small, intricate designs to pop out of the hot pinks and sunny yellows of the wall and counter decorations.
"Hoi! Welcome to… Tem Shop!" The temmie behind the counter flashed them a grand smile. A gold monocle decorated their right eye. Otherwise, they were dressed like the other temmies. "What would you like, Traveler?"
Flowey piped up, "Tem Flakes- 10g. Premium Tem Flakes- 20g. Tem University- 1,000g. Tem Drink- 35g."
"Tem Drink good with… Tem Flakes!" Temmie chirped. "Tem also buys items!"
"Buys?" Frisk prompted. "Like… I sell something to you?"
Temmie nodded. Even more enthusiasm, if that was possible, overcame the temmie. "Yaya! Yaya! Buy traveler things!"
"I don't have anything I can sell, though," Frisk replied. "But, uh, what are Tem Flakes?"
"Tem Flakes are cereal! Good with Tem Drink! But you have thing- traveler things!" Temmie's grin now betrayed the presence of overly sharp fangs. "G!"
Frisk tipped their head. "But you can't trade g, can you? I mean, you buy stuff with it."
Flowey piped up, "We have to leave now. Frisk and I need to leave. We have a very important appointment with Captain Undyne."
The temmie behind the counter put her paws on the colorful counter. She pressed her paws down on the surface so hard, her claws unsheathed and glinted in the light. "No! Traveler stay! Travelers will stay with us a little while longer."
Two temmies crept up behind them. "The human will stay with us," the temmie that had first greeted them purred.
The second growled, "Human will stay with us. For life."
The temmie behind the counter pulled out a thermos. The upper third was made of a see-through, glass-like material. The rest was dark maroon with intricate red designs and multiple lights. A silver ring separated the glass and metal. Seven lights–cyan, blue, purple, green, orange, yellow, and red–made a ring below the silver rim. All of them were turned off. "Temmie will get muns."
"Muns from you," the first one stated in a silky voice.
The second piped up in a rougher voice, "Or muns from your soul!"
Flowey's vine whipped out and took a bag of g from Frisk's bag and set it on the counter. "Th-there! Uh, can we leave now?"
The first tem grabbed the bag of g and threw it into a barrel. It clinked and jingled as it joined a massive amount of g. "Thank you. Now we can guide you to Captain Undyne! And we will get muns from it. Perhaps extra for catching traitor flower." Temmie tapped a large button on thermos in which she held. When the button was activated, the top flipped open and a large light turned yellow on the front. The outline of a soul was on the yellow button. The seven colored lights began to glow in a dim fashion.
"Wh-what's that?" Frisk prompted.
"Container," Temmie answered simply. "It catches your soul when we kill you."
The first temmie sniffed the bag and perked up. "Dog Residue?"
"Dog Residue?!" the temmie behind the counter gasped. "You have Dog Residue?"
Frisk nodded. "Y-yeah. We do."
"Give it to us!" the one behind the counter hissed, eyes wide and teeth bared.
Flowey shook his head. "No! If you let us go, we'll give it to you. But if you take us…" Flowey took out the husk and wrapped two vines around it. "I'll destroy it."
Immediately, the two temmies behind them backed up. The temmie behind the counter shut the thermos lid. "Give us Dog Residues! We promise not to hunt you! Or take your soul!"
Flowey nodded. "Good. Here." He dropped the husk on the counter. The two temmies behind them swarmed the counter. The one behind the counter snarled and wrapped her arms around it. The two other temmies barked and attempted to jump onto the counter to take it from her.
Frisk turned around and fled Temmie Village. "I… don't like Temmie Village," Frisk admitted.
Flowey nodded. "Yeah. Me neither. Let's just… keep going." Nearer to the beginning of the trail, another trail split off from the first mushroom. After one last mushroom was activated, they got to continue the trail.
This area lacked mushrooms of any sort. Dimly glowing purple crystals littered the ground. A maze of thin strips of glowing grass curled about the ground. Little lamps decorated different places. A sign hung on the wall next to the first lamp post. Flowey read aloud, "'Without candles or magic to guide them Home, the monsters used crystals to navigate.' What does that- oh." Flowey looked about.
Frisk attempted to mimic him, but still couldn't see anything. "What happened? Is it darker?"
"It's pitch black!" Flowey exclaimed in exasperation. "Why'd it go black? I can hardly see anything here!"
"You can't see anything? Oh dear! What a nightmare."
"Frisk, this isn't the time."
"Well, they used the crystals to guide them. Maybe use the crystals."
Flowey squinted and shook his head. "Nope. Feel around. Is there anything…? Ah!" The grass maze was illuminated again. The crystal lights dimmed out of existence due to sheer contrast. "There. We just need to touch multiple lamps around the maze to keep the grass lit up."
"That sounds fun!" Frisk purred as they carried on down the trail.
"Everything is fun to you," Flowey smirked.
Frisk giggled. "True!" The grass was very dark. Frisk touched a lamppost. The grass glowed again. Although they ran into many dead ends, they eventually found a wall in which led them to a long, small room. There was a small trail of illuminated grass, which gradually began to darken. It led, however, into a pond. Frisk stepped in and nearly fell. The water was chest deep! Spooked, they waded as quickly as they could forward. The dying light dimmed into nothingness. They crawled onto land. At the very end, leaning on a wall, was an echo flower.
" U."
Frisk whipped around. Light returned to the area. Captain Undyne, at the edge of the pool, watched the human and their flower. For the first time, Captain Undyne spoke to them. "Seven. Seven human souls. With the power of seven human souls, our king… King Asgore Dreemurr… will become a god. With that power, King Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take the surface back from humanity… and give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured. Understand, human? This is your only chance at redemption. Give up your soul, or I'll tear it from your body." Captain Undyne slipped into a battle stance. A spear appeared within her hands. With a hiss, Captain Undyne charged them. Frisk and Flowey back up against the wall until they could move no more.
Before Captain Undyne's spear could meet Frisk's heart, Monster Kid jumped out of the grass hanging from the wall nearby. "Ha-ha! Captain Undyne! I'll help you fight!" Monster Kid looked between Captain Undyne, whose spear still pointed straight at Frisk, and Frisk, whose wide eyes now flicked between Captain Undyne and Monster Kid. "Ha! You found her, too! We got front row seats to her fight!" They kid looked between Captain Undyne and Frisk again. "…wait. Whose she fighting?" With a sharp sigh of exasperation, Captain Undyne took Monster kid by one of his frills and dragged him away. Her spear vanished. "H-hey! You aren't going to tell my parents about this, are you?"
Frisk fell to one knee and put a hand to their thundering heart. "Oh… my… goodness."
Flowey brushed his head against Frisk's. "Hey! Frisk. We're okay."
"She… nearly killed me!"
"But she didn't?"
"If Monster Kid wasn't here… if he hadn't interrupted her… she'd have… sh-she'd have-!" Frisk whimpered, tears forming in their dull eyes.
"Whoa, whoa!" Flowey gasped. "It's alright! He did come in and save the day, right? H-he got her off you. But now we have to go, okay? We have to go before she comes back. M-maybe you won't even have to fight her if you hurry! Come on, Frisk. Get up!"
"I regret everything I said about her." Frisk whimpered again and shakily got to their feet. From the center of the pond, a trail of glowing grass led straight up. Frisk waded through the deep pond again and through to the new trail. This trail was thicker. It led to a tunnel that was partially flooded so Frisk's feet got wet again. Echo flowers, all strangely silent, littered the ground in the thin tunnels.
Flowey glanced back at his trembling friend. Biting back a sigh, he called, "Howdy."
"Howdy."
Frisk perked up.
Flowey continued, "Har, har, har."
"Har, har, har."
Frisk smiled and giggled. The flower imitated them. Unfortunately, Frisk couldn't stay long. They hardly had time to say "Look behind you~!" before Flowey rushed them. At the end, a sign hung on the wall. "What's that?"
Flowey read aloud, "'However… there is a prophecy. The Angel… The One Who Has Seen the Surface… They will return and the underground will go empty."