A new chapter faster than I was expecting to write it. I may have taken a lot of time all at once to write this.
Regardless, enjoy.
Chapter 19
Fishy Conversations
Undyne gasped, waking with a start in her bedroom. She glanced around, somewhat confused and bewildered.
...what had happened? Was… Was that all a dream?
No, it couldn't have been a dream. It was too long to be a dream, not to mention how real it was.
Wait- Frisk. Gaster. Grillby's skills. Combat.
Reset.
Undyne's eye widened in realization. Holy hell. She remembered.
She remembered the previous timeline.
She remembered the endless combat, Sans' death, Gaster's emergence from nowhere. She remembered Frisk appearing in Grillby's bar and resetting one final time.
She… Remembered everything.
Suddenly, her phone rang on her bedside. Scrambling up to get dressed, she picked it up and looked at the caller. Seeing it was Alphys, she picked up. "'Sup, nerd?"
"O-Oh, hi, Uh-Undyne! I was actually c-calling to tell you… Uh… Um…."
"Tell me what, Alph? I haven't got all day! Fuhuhu!" Undyne laughed as she began to put on her armor for her patrol and duties as the guard captain.
"I wanted to tell you… I think a human's entered the underground. A-and this is the last one, too, so w-we can go… Go free!"
"Really? That's great news, Alphys!" Undyne smirked, realizing she already knew that, but she played dumb. She didn't figure she was normally supposed to have this ability, so she didn't give away that she had it. "When did you find this out?"
"Um, l-last night. The determination levels spiked and the maximum DT per soul has also spiked and neither of them has gone down since, so I'm really excited because-"
"Well, it's great to hear that, Alph." Undyne cut off her rambling before she got too far, as she had very little idea what these things actually were. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any humans on my patrols, and tell the other guards the same. Is there anything else you needed?"
"N-n-nope! N-nothing at all, j-just wanted to, uh, alert you t-to that fact! N-nothing more, eheh…."
Undyne figured she had something else, but she let it slide. "Alright, I'll talk to you later then. See ya, nerd!"
After a nervous farewell from Alphys. Undyne hung up. She sighed. "It's not over yet, is it, Frisk?" She looked towards her door, getting up and grabbing her helmet.
"You can't use your soul to break the barrier, otherwise we'd probably have left by now… and with your abilities, why would you sacrifice yourself that way anyway?"
Grabbing the door handle, she went out towards her front door. "No, Frisk…
"You have other plans."
Frisk passed through town to the point where Papyrus usually met them for their battle. As much as they wanted to stay and chat, they had little time to waste if they wanted to save the monsters from the hazards of their own genius construction. Any battles they had along the way would slow them down unnecessarily.
The unusual blizzard that occurred at the pass slowly approached as they progressed down the path, but surprisingly, Papyrus did not appear at its peak. Frisk furrowed their brows as they continued, wondering what was going on. They hoped that nothing bad had happened to him.
They came forward, to the first Echo Flower of Waterfall. Fortunately, Sans was still at his post, and so Frisk decided to see if he knew anything about it.
"heya, kid. hope you plan on making swift progress from here on out."
"I sure hope so, Sans. Speaking of which- have you seen Papyrus? He wasn't there to engage me in battle on the edge of Snowdin."
Sans smirked, and came around the side of his post. "heh, I have indeed. would you care to walk-n-talk with me a bit down the way here?"
Frisk took the first step, heading for the rock waterfall. "Sure, Sans. What's on your mind?"
Despite the need for haste, Sans's steps were somewhat slow-paced as he talked. "so, I convinced paps to let you by for the time being by letting him know that dad wanted you for an emergency."
"Really?" Frisk's eyes widened, surprised at Sans actually taking action to hasten them along. "It would appear this last timeline's changed you, Sans."
"our success at reviving the real you's inspired me to keep working." Sans winked, holding back the rocks at the waterfall with his blue magic as they crossed. "though, about my persuading paps, there was one condition on which he accepted."
"Oh?" Frisk continued, stepping out of the water and continuing towards the dimly-lit reeds ahead. "What might that be?"
"oh, it's fairly simple really. just that-" Suddenly, Sans's eyes widened, and with a sharp raising of his hand and a quick flare of magic, produced a bone wall to protect Frisk from an incoming spear.
"Sans, you had better not have been brainwashed by that human! Is that why you've gotten this far without any stoppage?!"
Sans sighed, dropping his bone wall as the spear lodged in it disintegrated. "it's not what it looks like, undyne. I'm escorting them to the capital, and I've received orders from dr. gaster that they're wanted alive."
"Really now?" Undyne leaped down from the darkness above, fully suited in her armor. A booming thud echoed about the chasm as she landed, blocking the path in front of the tall grass. She scowled through her helmet as she crossed her arms in front of her, looking down at Sans. "Why didn't this go through me first? After all, I'm above you in command."
"for one, g's my dad, and for two, he's of higher rank under his majesty than you are, as the royal scientist. so he doesn't exactly have to go through you to get to me." He stepped forward, eye flaring. "now, if you don't mind, we have places to be."
Undyne stood there a moment longer, looming over him ominously. Finally, she stepped aside. "Know I'll be calling him shortly to clarify this truth, Sans. I don't want you pranking me again."
"prank? I'd hardly prank you about our freedom, undyne." He winked, turning around as they passed. "that'd be inhumane of me."
Frisk snickered, but Undyne made no response as she let them pass. She stood tall and straight, like a professional guardswoman, but Frisk caught a hint of a glint in her eye as they proceeded to wade through the grass.
Once they were well out of her earshot, Sans continued, describing Papyrus's condition for letting them pass. "anyways, you're just gonna need to come back and fight paps later. that was the condition for letting you by."
"Ah, okay. That's not so bad." Frisk smirked. "Certainly not as bad as getting interrupted by Undyne, am I right?"
"heh, you got that right." They continued through Waterfall together, Sans's presence and conversation stopping the average monster from attempt an encounter or assault.
Finally, Sans stopped in front of his telescope, sighing. "well, I gotta check in with g and paps and make sure that everything's goin' fine on their ends. I'll check in with you later, yeah?"
"Alright. Take care, Sans." Frisk waved as he disappeared, before heading down towards the glowing waters. They took time to listen to the Echo Flowers as they passed.
...Wait. Was that… Flowey? Flowey had… replaced the passing conversation?
"It's all over soon."
"We'll be free!"
"We can live in peace, and harmony!"
"And there'll be sky, and the stars…"
"Just you wait and see. We're past the worst of it."
Frisk thought about these statements, smirking as they continued. Flowey was providing some hints to the local monsters of what was occurring. How clever of him, although the majority of them probably won't catch on. Maybe they ought to put a few messages themself.
Perhaps later, they thought. Frisk decided to continue down the road.
"AND THAT CONCLUDES OUR INTERVIEW OF MUFFET, A BAKER AND HER SECRET TO OFFERING PASTRIES AT ABSURDLY HIGH PRICES - AND SELLING! TUNE IN NEXT TIME ON MTT GUEST HOUSE! COMING UP: A PREVIEW OF METTATON THE MOVIE XXVII, TO GET YOU READY TO GO WATCH IT YOURSELVES! FOLLOWING, AN EPISODE OF METTATON THE MUSICAL, THEN OUR BRAND NEW LIVE GAME SHOW AT 7! I'LL SEE YOU THEN, BEAUTIES!"
After the cameras were carried away, Mettaton got up and shook Muffet's hand in appreciation. "THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMING ON TODAY, IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE HAVING YOU HERE."
"Oh, no problem, dearie. It's everything I could ever ask for, ahuhuhuhuhu~" Muffet giggled as she took his hand, gingerly shaking it before grabbing her bags. "Well, I should get going, dear. The rest of the spiders get anxious when I'm not around~"
"I'M SURE THEY DO, MS. MUFFET. WELL, THANKS AGAIN FOR COMING ON, I HOPE YOU DO WELL AND HAVE A GOOD DAY."
"Oh, I'm sure I will, Mettaton~" Muffet chuckled as she departed, leaving a couple of pastries with the crew as a gift.
Mettaton left them behind, as he couldn't eat them with this body, and went into another room to charge, and make plans for tomorrow's show schedule. His prerecorded Mettaton the Musical series gave him some time to plan ahead, as opposed to doing everything spontaneously.
He was beginning to virtually process his thoughts for a plan when Alphys gave him a call. Excited to see if she was finished with his other body, he picked up. ALPHYS, DARLING! HOW'S THAT NEW BODY COMING? I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW THE FINISHED VERSION LOOKS!"
"I- ah, it's going okay, Mettaton. I was actually c-calling for something a little more important. I've been checking the-"
"MORE IMPORTANT? ALPHYS, DARLING, WHAT ON EARTH COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY NEW BODY? I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR AN ETERNITY TO SEE IT IN ALL ITS GLORY!"
"...p-perhaps a human?"
"...OH? THE LAST ONE IS HERE? WHAT ABOUT IT?"
"-W-well, maybe we could bring them on the show as they come through. I-I was hoping we could maybe do a series of shows where y-you maybe pretend to attempt to kill them, but then I come to save the day…? ...No, that's a stupid idea, why'd I think of-"
"I'M AN ENTERTAINER, NOT A KILLER, ALPHYS. BUT I LIKE THE IDEA! OOOH, I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS FOR TOMORROW! AND IT COULD START WITH OUR LIVE GAME SHOW TONIGHT~ LET ME COME DOWN TO THE LAB, ALHPYS! I HAVE SO MANY PLANS I CAN DISCUSS WITH YOU! I'LL BE ON MY WAY IMMEDIATELY!"
Without even giving her a chance to respond, Mettaton hung up and fired up his booster rockets. His processor began running on hyperspeed, not only making the plans for the day, but also making the exact scripts for each individual upcoming live shows. He considered doing an interruption mid-Musical, but he would do that later after he briefed his plans with Alphys.
Ohh, this was going to be so much fun.
Frisk uneasily stepped onto the long wooden maze where Undyne usually encountered them, a little nervous. She hadn't intercepted their travel before at the bridge. However, Sans had been with them at that time, and Frisk assumed that she had believed his claim on their first encounter. However, he wasn't back yet to "escort" them through this area, so they were a little unsure if Undyne would assault them.
Their first few steps were hesitant, and while it seemed clear, Undyne had a tendency to catch them off-guard. Sure enough, a spear appeared through the ground in front of them, before Undyne cried out from below.
"I knew he was juking me when he claimed he was escorting you! You might not have Sans under your belt, human, but that doesn't mean your soul is free to walk about down here!"
Ah, crap. Time to run. Frisk, having memorized the path through the maze, hastily made their way to the dead end where Undyne usually dropped them off into the dump. Once there, they paused, turning around to face her.
"Undyne, Sans might not have been escorting me, but he was right about Gaster. He's talked to him and I understand there's an emergency in the Core he wants my soul to try and fix. I kinda have to be there alive in order to help him."
"Hah, you think I didn't call him to make sure? Of course I know that! However…" She glared, summoning spears above the bridge between them. "I don't think he'll mind if you're a bit battered and bruised, huh?"
Frisk put on a terrified and shocked face as Undyne hurtled the spears toward the platform, splitting it in half. However, shortly after it began to fall away, Frisk decided to test out their magic and see how effective it was in a physical form, rather than within their soul or in an ethereal form. Summoning their grapples (and their cape with them), they grappled to the platform Undyne still stood on, swinging to and fro as the rest of the platform descended into the darkness. Smirking, they called up to Undyne, "You're gonna have to try a little harder than that!"
before descending slowly towards the dump to SAVE.
Undyne clenched her fists as she saw Frisk descend into the darkness, then relaxed her grip and laughed quietly as she walked away. So they had, indeed, acquired more magic than just the ability to SAVE and RESET. Their final duel Undyne planned to have with them was going to be interesting.
She sighed, closing her eyes as she went back around to take a detour to intercept them later.
She couldn't keep up this facade of ignorance forever. Sans certainly hadn't, she observed that much from spying on his conversation with Frisk as they had passed through. They talked as though they had known each other for eons, and judging by her remembrance of his explanation of the resets, they probably had. She wondered what kinds of secrets of the past they knew, of what had occurred. ...Why they were still down here, if Frisk had gone through all these resets in an attempt to set them free.
...Had anyone else had that power?
She decided to stop by her house for a bit, to grab a bottle of cold water. She wanted to be ready for their fight, and maybe to chat with them afterward. She wanted to inquire more into this ability she now had.
Because, oh, boy, if the fight went to plan, it was going to be an exciting one.
I think this is the longest chapter I've written yet, and it didn't even take that long to do.
Cheers, I think writer's block has decided to go on vacation for the moment.
I actually planned to add more to this chapter, but it was getting long enough I decided to split it into two. First time that's really happened, huh? I may write the second part quickly, or it may take a long time as these recent chapters have been. If you're still interested, and don't want to keep checking back daily, be sure to follow so you can get those juicy notifications.
In the meantime, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time~