I didn't think. I couldn't think. Everything around me was eerily silent. All I could hear was my panting breath and the constant thudding of my feet coming into contact with the ground. My backpack felt heavy upon my shoulders. To my left, there was a huge digital sign, but I was too tired to read it. I didn't care enough to read it. Literally, my brain did not want to function.
I had finally left the cave, and I knew I was leaving Waterfall behind forever. Already, I could feel the heat, seeping into my skin. The rocky ground was a dry orange color, and the air was humid and hot. To the side, I found Sans' post. He wasn't there sleeping.
I crossed a bridge made of wooden planks, surprised that it hadn't been burned to crisp yet or something. At the other side, I was met with a water tank. Seeing it reminded me of how the battle with Undyne was supposed to go.
I made my way carefully over to the water tank. I had no idea how it got here, but I didn't care. I slowly reached for a cup, and put it under the faucet for a drink. I turned it on, and water gushed out in clean streams.
If only my mind was as clear as the water. Just thinking of the things I had done made me feel sick. The only thing I ever did was run. Running from Snowdin because I was scared. Running from Cowboy because I wanted to be independent. Running from Undyne, and leaving Cowboy to fare on his own. It was obvious. I was a coward.
My hands felt wet. Blinking, I realized my cup was overflowing. Water spilled over the edge of the cup and made little puddles on the dry ground. Drip, drip. It felt good to feel water running over my sweaty hands, but the tank was already half-way empty. Reluctantly, I turned the faucet off and drank my fill from the cup. It was luke-warm, due to the fact it had been roasting in heat for who-knows-how-long. Shrugging, I threw the now-empty cup over my shoulder. I watched as it evaporated in thin air. I couldn't say I was surprised, exactly. All I was afraid of was my body evaporating as well.
Sighing, I plopped down onto the ground next to my puddle. Maybe I should wait for Cowboy? Honestly, it shouldn't take long to defeat Undyne, or even to flee. She was just a fish-lady, after all. And with the confidence that only someone like Cowboy could have, it probably wouldn't make him break a sweat. He should be here soon enough.
I kept waiting. There was no sign of any cowboy hats, and no sounds of shouting or any noise, except for the magma boiling under the cliff path. Just thinking about the lava made me back away from the edge a bit more, just to be on the safe side.
After a while, I decided to use the puddle as my timer. Already, it was evaporating. Once it was completely dry, I would leave, and screw waiting for Cowboy. After all, it wasn't like I could wait forever or anything. My legs sat criss-cross as I peered at the slowly shrinking puddle.
Later, the puddle was gone. Whether from heat rays or conduction within the ground, I don't know. My finger tapped the ground there, and it was still damp. I decided to wait a bit longer.
After what seemed like forever, I tapped the ground again. It was now hard and cracked, like all the other areas around me. It was like a puddle had never been there in the first place. I looked behind my shoulder, desperate for a sign of Cowboy, or even Undyne, but neither were there. A thought of going back to investigate crossed my mind, but I quickly shook it away.
Well, it was time to go. Sighing, I held my backpack straps tightly as I picked myself up. Cowboy had promised to catch up to me eventually, so there wouldn't be any harm in gaining some extra ground before he did. Taking a deep breath and casting one last glance at the water tank, I trudged forward.
Immediately to my left were the Royal Guards. They were bigger than I thought, and their gray armor gleamed from the heat. I decided to avoid them, and scooched to the right as I headed onwards. I ignored the stairs to my right, for I knew they would just lead to the River Person. Ahead, there was a giant white building with the words LAB pasted in red letters above the door. Seeing such a strange laboratory in a place like this filled me with determination.
With renewed strength, I marched right in, the doors opening themselves for me. Inside, it was very dark, which I expected. Placing my hand on the green wall, I moved forward, trying not to bump into anything or slip on the blue-tiled ground. To the left, there was a huge screen that projected light all around, and I tried to ignore it as I went on forwards. I noticed some more objects next to the wall, but it was too dark to see them.
I suddenly stopped when I heard the sound of a door opening. Holding my breath, I waited for the lights to turn on.
It did. My eyes blinked, adjusting to the sudden brightness. Ahead of me, there was a yellow lizard-looking monster with a lab coat on. Of course, this was the one and only Alphys. I held my breath, waiting for her to notice me. In the next moment as she turned around, she did. Her expression morphed into one of shock, and for a moment, I wondered if she was scared. Like all the others in Snowdin.
But in the next moment, her shock turned into excitement as she danced around excitedly, rambling about how I came too early and how she wasn't prepared. Her voice was rather high pitched, and kinda squeaky. I preferred Papyrus' loud tone over this one. But just thinking of the skeleton brothers made me feel sad.
Alphys finally calmed down. "Um…" She started, "H-h-hiya!" Her constant stammering was obviously clear.
"Dr. Alphys?" I guessed, examining the rest of the room and focusing my gaze on the wall in which Mettaton would appear. Should I leave before he arrived, or stay like the game went along?
Alphys gave me a surprised stare, like she hadn't expected me to recognize her or know her name. "Y-yes!" She confirmed, still energized, "I'm-"
"Asgore's royal scientist." I finished for her. She was visibly confused now, and I watched as her eyebrows rose in surprised gesture. "It's okay, I know you're not one of those 'bad guys.' Even though you like to keep an eye on me. Through your console." I raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, waiting for her response.
She blinked at me a couple of times before her face turned into horror. "H-how do you know that?!"
"I figured it out?"
Alphys turned slightly pink, and she started to fiddle around with her round glasses. "I was originally going to stop you, but… watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them. S-so, ahhh," She seemed to be looking for the right words. "Now I want to help you!"
"Sure. Guide me through Hotlands and whatever whatnot."
Alphys looked relieved, but then another embarrassed expression crossed her face. "Well, actually, umm, there's just a tiny issue."
"Mettaton, right?" I guessed, ignoring Alphys' expression. "And now he wants to kill me because you added anti-human combat features?" Restating the point itself made me wonder how Ricky made it past the human-killing robot.
Alphys still looked shocked, but she seemed to be getting used to my overbalance of knowledge, so she managed to calm herself down faster this time. "Of c-course, when I saw you coming, I immediately decided… I have to remove those features!"
"But instead, you made a 'teensy' mistake and now he's an…" I searched for the exact words. "...unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood."
Alphys laughed nervously. I could tell she was worried. She suddenly squeaked pitifully, "How do you know all this already?"
"Ricky told me." It was an easy lie, popped right out of my mouth. I was never cut out for a dark blue soul. "But I need to get going before-" The whole lab shook. The ground quivered, the walls groaned, and the stuff on the tables behind me rattled. A couple of things even fell, clattering on the ground.
Alphys gave me a questioning glance, but I knew it was already too late. Another thump sounded throughout the lab. "Did you hear something?" Alphys asked rhetorically, with a positive outlook on her face. She was pretty oblivious to things, I could tell. The thumps were getting faster, stronger, more consistent. Mettaton was drawing close. Realization finally dawned on her face. "Oh no." Suddenly, the lab was covered with a blinding, white light, and I had to shut my eyes. Then everything was dark.
Then a loud, sexy robot voice called out, "OHHHH YES! WELCOME BEAUTIES…" And a spotlight appeared and shone onto the one and only Mettaton. He was literally a big gray box rolling on a single wheel. I wonder how much practice it took for him to learn how to balance so well. Screen displaying a big red "M", he raised one of his gloved hands before speaking into the microphone in his other. "TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!"
Suddenly, the lab was filled with obnoxious music and things went absolutely crazy. Colorful disco balls rose down from the ceiling and shone their flashy lights all around the darkened lab as rainbow-colored confetti rained down from who-knows-where. The ground was now piling from the over-excessive amount of it. I was glad I hadn't left early on. This was literally awesome.
Mettaton waved his arms around in a wildly excited way. The confetti had finally stopped raining, and I was mildly disappointed. At least the disco balls were still spinning. "OH BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT SHOW! EVERYONE GIVE A BIG HAND FOR OUR WONDERFUL CONTESTANT!" As Mettaton gestured to me, a whole new stream of confetti rained down upon me in perfect spirals. I couldn't help leaping up to grasp for them, like an eager cat trying to catch a mouse.
Mettaton clapped just as eagerly, his screen flashing between a light blue and yellow. When the confetti finally stopped, he spoke. "NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGEOUS?"
"I have." But he ignored me, of course.
"NO PROBLEM!" He cheered, his screen now flashing a big red "1". "IT'S SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE. ANSWER CORRECTLY…"
"Or die." I completed for him.
"EXCELLENT!" He congratulated me, and then my soul was drawn out as I was lifted into the air. Alphys could only stare nervously, switching her gaze between me and Mettaton.
"I don't wanna fight!" I shouted, as I wasn't really in the mood for crying. The words "screaming is against the rules" popped into my mind.
"LET'S START WITH AN EASY ONE!" Mettaton suggested, moving to the side to reveal a question board. What's the prize for answering correctly? A timer suddenly appeared beneath the sign, but I couldn't find any multiple choice buttons around me. How the heck I was I supposed to answer? I looked over to Alphys for help, but she only chewed on her claws nervously. Was it possible that Alphys didn't know how to help? Was it possible that Mettaton hadn't even created the multiple choice system yet?
"You're RUNNING OUT OF TIME, DARLING!" The timer was at 10 seconds now.
Well, at least I knew the answer to this one. Sighing, I decided to speak. "More questions." Alphys gave me a thumbs up. Confetti rained down on me, but I didn't have time to celebrate.
"RIGHT!" Mettaton congratulated me, clapping, "SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT! WELL HERE'S YOUR TERRIFIC PRIZE!" Another question appeared upon the question board. What's the king's full name?
Pff. These were easy. "Asgore Dreemur."
"CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER!" He waved his hand around dramatically, confetti flying. "ENOUGH ABOUT YOU. NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!" What are robots made of?
Well if I remembered correctly, it was either sugar&spice, or metal&magic. "Metal and Magic."
"TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH?" More confetti. The quiz show continues. "HERE'S ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU!" Two trains, Train A and Train B, simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A and Station B are 252.5 miles apart from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7mph towards… I stopped reading as the timer started to tick. I had only read half of the question, and I was already going to run out of time. There was no way I could solve this, and I couldn't remember the exact number either. I was screwed.
I took a wild guess. "1,000 miles?" Wait, was it even asking for miles? Or time?
Too late to change the answer anyway. "WRONG! WRONG!" Mettaton raised his finger and a yellow zap was headed in my direction. I tried to move away, but it followed me like a magnet. As it struck my soul, I felt myself getting electrocuted, and little tingles of electricity raced up and down my body. "WROOOOOOOONG!" His words echoed around in my head, and I tried to block out the pain. When it finally stopped, I could only sigh in relief. Catching my breath, I noticed Alphys' horrified expression.
The quiz show continues. "DON'T 'COUNT' ON YOUR VICTORY…" That was a foreshadowing to the next question, wasn't it? How many flies are in this jar? As the timer started, a jar plopped down right in front of the question board. It was literally filled with flies, and they buzzed around angrily.
Well, I was angry too. Flying down, I snatched the jar and threw it at Mettaton. Unfortunately, it didn't leave a dent. Fortunately, the jar shattered and flies swarmed the metal robot. "FIFTY-FOUR!" I yelled. My OP guessing skills.
"CORRECT! YOU'RE SO LUCKY TODAY!" I blinked at him, the flies slowly drifting away to their own destinations. I hadn't seriously thought that would be the correct answer. Maybe I was lucky. "LET'S PLAY MEMORY GAME." He waved excitedly as a half-picture of Froggit showed up on the question board. What monster is this?
"Mettaton."
"I'M SO FLATTERED YOU REMEMBERED!" The picture extended to show the full picture of Mettaton wearing a shirt with a Froggit face on it. "BUT CAN YOU GET THIS ONE?" Would you smooch a ghost?
I sighed in relief. Finally some rest. I glanced smugly at the timer, and it started to slowly increase. 60, 70, 80… maybe I should wait longer just to tick Mettaton off.
At 100, I got bored and decided to answer. After all, I wasn't one for patience. Maybe I just wasn't cut out for the light blue soul either. "Heck yeah!"
"GREAT ANSWER! I LOVE IT!" Mettaton was obviously pleased with my response. "HERE'S A SIMPLE ONE." How many letters in the name Metattonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn… I decided to stop reading.
How in the heck was I supposed to answer this? The list of n's just kept getting longer and longer… "100." I sighed.
The zap came again, and my body curled up reflexively. I wasn't feeling very lucky at the moment. "NO NO NO! CAN'T YOU READ!?" I growled angrily. Maybe it would've been a better idea if I had just left in the first place. These questions were rather… shocking. (eh heh heh, Sans rly?) I smiled. After all, in times like these, a pun could always lighten the mood. "TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS!" I sighed in relief. All the hard questions were gone now, so I should be fine. In the dating simulation video game "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie" what is Mew Mew's favorite food?
Before I could even think on it, Alphys started to wave her hands wildly around. "OH! OH! I KNOW THIS ONE! IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM!" Then she launched into one of her long explanations of her favorite anime and how the main character went to the beach to buy icecream for her friends, but got rejected because of the snail flavor it held. She was then about to launch into another parade of morals and friendships until she stopped at Mettaton's waving finger of disapproval.
"ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS. YOU AREN'T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, ARE YOU?" Alphys shook her head nervously, because in truth, she hadn't. "WELL THEN, I'LL ASK A QUESTION… YOU'LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!" A new question was on the question board now. Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on? The timer was at a standstill, but that wasn't necessary.
It was Undyne, obviously. "Undyne." I smirked playfully.
Alphys turned a bright shade of red as Mettaton wagged his finger playfully. "SEE, ALPHYS? I TOLD YOU IT WAS OBVIOUS. EVEN THE HUMAN FIGURED IT OUT."
"Who doesn't know?" I inquired.
"YES, SHE SCRAWLS HER NAME IN THE MARGIN OF HER NOTES. SHE NAMES PROGRAMMING VARIABLES AFTER HER. SHE EVEN WRITES STORIES OF THEM TOGETHER… SHARING A DOMESTIC LIFE. PROBABILITY OF CRUSH-"
"101 Percent." I smiled.
"MARGIN OF ERROR. ONE PERCENT." I couldn't help feeling hopeful. Maybe now, Mettaton and I could get along, and he could stop trying to kill me?
No such luck. "WELL WELL WELL. THE SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSION! WE CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS! BUT. BUT! THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE! MORE BLOODSHED! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS…!" He then folded up into himself before rocketing away and leaving a gaping hole in the roof, leaving showering debris, wood chips, and some last bits confetti dropping down onto us. My soul retreated back into me as I drifted back to the ground.
Alphys seemed unsure about how to respond. "Well that was certainly something."
"Yeah." I turned my head around to stare at the huge hole in the wall created by Mettaton. The question board was gone now.
"Wait, wait!" She scurried over closer, and I tried not to back off. "Let me give you my ph-phone number! Th-then… m-maybe… If you need help, I could…" She looked so hopeful, I felt bad for raining down on her charade.
"I don't have a phone." Toriel never gave me one. However, Cowboy had one. But just thinking of how I left him behind made me cringe.
"Wh-what?"
"Hey Alphys, you're smart right?" She didn't respond. "So uh, how about you get me one of your cameras? And turn it into a phone as well?"
My question obviously threw her off balance. "H-huh?"
"Your cameras." I repeated, twiddling my fingers. "I want one. To record stuff. And take pictures? You could also make it multi-task, so that I can call people on it as well."
Alphys visibly brightened up. "W-wait a second, please!" Then she hurried away into the other direction, probably to make my request come true. There was first some thumping, then a buzzing sound, and was that a scream? She was heading back now. Well, that was fast.
"Here, I-I upgraded the camera for you, so now it's almost just like a phone!" She handed me a high-tech camera with huge lenses, and it reminded me of Canon cameras. Interested, I opened it to find that the inside had a keyboard and screen, just like a phone! Alphys bounced excitedly at my expression of awe. "It can do texting, items, it's got a key chain…" I looked to the side to see that there was, in fact, a key chain. "I even signed you up for the underground's No.1 social network! Now we're officially friends! Ehehehe! Hehe… heh…" Her laugh slowly faded away as she glanced around nervously. "I'm going to the bathroom." And just like that, she scurried away.
Shrugging, I took the strap hanging off the camera and looped it over my neck so that it could hang out in front of me. Then I turned it on before playing around with the settings to change the view to selfie mode. Aiming the camera in front of me, I squatted down next to a half-full bag of dog food and stuck out my tongue.
I took the picture. It was kinda weird, but it was okay for a first shot. All that mattered was the fact that I now had a new camera.
I feel like going on a writing spree now! :D
If I remember to, I will get a chapter out tomorrow. ;P