Chapter 25: The Core
"Alright, lets get this show started!" said Delilah, skipping ahead of everyone. The group quickly followed. They were mesmerized by how advance the core looked. Multicolored neon tubes went in every direction, they can hear the mechanical whir of the place, and they can smell ozone coming from below.
"Whoa." said Iris. "This...is...just amazing. The amount of power this place is producing. No power plant in the world is this powerful."
"I know this place looks amazing but we really got to get moving." said Jerod.
"Geez I wanna see the guy who built this place." said John
"Hey, guys. There is a fork up ahead." said Frisk pointing to it.
"Hmm maybe we should go right?" said Delilah unsure.
"We might as well." said Iris
Frisk and Delilah walked in first. Immediately the door shut on them. Startled they pounded on the door to no avail.
"Abra cadabra."
"Adieu."
Frisk and Delilah turned around to see two monsters emerge from the shadows. Knight Knight, a giant monster holding a large mace with a sun symbol on it. Madjick, a wizard-like monster with two magical orbs hovering with it.
"Alright Frisk. I'll take the big one while you take the wizard one." said Delilah. Frisk nodded and went up to Madjick. Delilah went up to Knight Knight and tried talking to her.
"Um Hello, do you mind letting us go please?." asked Delilah.
Knight Knight looked at her and spoke "Good Knight" she said, sounding drowsy, as it slammed it's mace into the ground. Out of the tip of it came a miniature sun. It looked almost exactly like the real sun, but less blinding. It rose up and started swirling, releasing solar flares. Delilah shrieked as she ran away from them.
As Delilah was taking care of Knight Knight, Frisk tried to talk to Madjick.
"Hey, uh how are y-"
"Tinkle tinkle hoy!" it said interrupting Frisk. It then started talking in gibberish. Frisk didn't know how but somehow it's talking made him dizzy. He stumbled a bit trying to regain his balance. When he got his composure back he quickly reacted to the incoming magical projectiles that came from the magical orbs. He jumped left and right, dodging all the projectiles.
After Knight Knight's attack, Delilah tried thinking of a way to defeat him. "Hmm" she thought "it's name is Knight Knight, it keeps saying these phrases for bye, it sounds kinda drowsy. I wonder..." Delilah went and sang what she and Shyren sang to Knight Knight. She starts to look sleepy.
"Close you eyes..." it mumbled, slamming it's mace on the ground again. This time a miniature crescent moon came out of it. As it rose up, star-like projectiles rained from above, with Delilah dodging them as well. She sang her song one more time, making Knight Knight fall asleep.
Frisk narrowly dodged the attack in one piece. But as he was dodging he came up with a crazy idea for hot to defeat this monster. He went up to Madjick and raised his stick like a magic wand. Madjick got excited.
"Ah! A fellow wizard I see!" said Madjick. He gave Frisk a bow, which Frisk gave back. Madjick went up to Knight Knight, who was still sleeping, and said 'Alakazam!' and they both disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Frisk and Delilah gave each other a high five as the door opened.
"Nice thinking with that magic wand trick." said Delilah
"Same with your singing." said Frisk
"Are you two alright?" Asked Diego
"Yep, made it without a scratch." said Delilah
"Good, I think we should be more careful about where we go from now on." said Iris
"Yeah, your right. Also we should all stick together." said Caleb
"Alright, now lets go." said Jerod. The group nodded and followed him.
They went through the Core, not getting caught, until halfway through they took a wrong turn. There they found a bunch of familiar faces. One looked like Froggit but has spiky excrescents sticking out all over it's body. Another looked like Whimsum but he is wearing knight getup and is wielding a double bladed spear. The last one looked like Loox but was sleeker looking and its large eye changes from an eye to a Cheshire grin with each blink. They all look like they are much stronger than their counterparts, what a nightmare!
"I got Final Froggit over there." said John
"Final Froggit?" said Caleb
"Yeah, look at him. His very presence spells out 'Final'. It's a fitting nickname."
"Then I got, um, Sir Whimsalot." Said Diego. John gave a thumbs up to the nickname.
"Then I will handle, uh..." Jerod glanced to Iris. "Iris please help me. Say something that relates to eyes." he begged
"Astigmatism?" said Iris unsure
"Yeah! I got Astigmatism!"
"Ehh it could be better." said John. Jerod glared at him, face blushing.
They each approached their opponent to begin their separate battles.
"Hey, your looking good today. Really like how that crown looks on you." John said to Final Froggit, attempting to charm him into letting them go.
"Robbit, robbit" Final Froggit croaked, clearly understanding what he said.
John smiled believing that it worked when suddenly Final Froggit charged at him. John didn't have time to react as he got knocked down by him. John got to his feet but not a moment too soon because Final Froggit sent a barrage of flies at him. John dodged to the right but was too slow as he got struck by one right on his forehead. It didn't break anything but it is definitely going to bruise and leave a painful headache. John clutched his knife as he glared at Final Froggit, eye seething with rage.
"Listen up you reject pokemon, try that sh!t one more time and I will F##king end you!" He growled through his teeth. His anger immediately disappeared when he noticed the monster was shuddering. John stepped back and realizing what he'd done, he allowed his anger to overcome his patience temporarily. He doesn't want to kill anyone, but he has no idea what he would if he loses his cool like that. He put that thought aside as he thought of what to say to Final Froggit. Intimidating, though he doesn't approve, will at least now make him listen. Perhaps he can make him reconsider fighting.
"sigh Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to threaten you like that. But please, let us go and do something else. I'm sure you don't really want to fight me, like I don't want to fight you. Maybe there is something more to this world you would rather be doing?"
Final Froggit gave a thoughtful croak as he began thinking it over. John calmly waited for his answer. Then, the monster looked at him and nodded in agreement. John grinned.
"Then go do it." Those were all the words he needs as Final Froggit ended the fight, waiting for the others to finish.
Whimsalot locked eyes with Diego. Diego remembered the Whimsum in the ruins, being so easily scared by the smallest thing. This monster doesn't look frightened at all, but instead sad.
"You don't have to do this you know." Diego said trying to console him. He kept his distance, just in case.
"I must. I've made my peace." Whimsalot said solemly. He summoned a swarm of white butterflies and sent them to him, three at a time. Diego slid left and right dodging them, but one got too close. Diego yelped as he smacked it with his pan. He worried that he killed it but then calmed as he saw that it wasn't a real butterfly, just part of his attack.
"Please stop" Diego said tearing up, "You better stop or...I-I will hurt you" he said vainly trying to threaten him.
Whimsalot shook his head dismissively "I'm not afraid of you." He summoned a whole ring of butterflies around Diego, trapping him. He could do nothing but stand there as they closed in on him, hitting him all at once. He fell to his knees as the attack critically injured him, one more hit and he's done for.
Whimsalot was about to attack again but paused when he noticed the human was clasping his hands together and muttering something. He flew closer to listen to what he was saying.
"Oh God, please please help me. Please protect me. I don't want to die but I don't want to hurt anyone. I know you will protect me. God please, please, please..." Diego said sobbing
Whimsalot was surprised to see the human still cling to hope even at their inevitable death. He summoned another ring of butterflies and sent them to Diego. He closed his eyes tight as the attack hit him. Suddenly his injuries felt healed. Confused he looked at Whimsalot.
"Your God listened. There is still hope." he said ending the battle. Diego realized that Whimalot healed him with green attacks. He wiped his tears away as he smiled at him.
"Thank you"
"Your stupid, trying to face me alone." Astigmatism said to Jerod.
"Takes one to know one, cyclops." Jerod retorted back
The monster smiled "That's right. Pick on me. Show me that you are no better than me." he said as he summoned a bunch of orbs and sent them at him. Jerod ran around dodging them all.
"You want me to pick on you? What, do you have some kind of insult fetish?" he questioned, unintentionally picking on him.
"Yes, YES! Do it again, Again!" Astigmatism gleefully said as he summoned more orbs than before. Jerod did a good job trying to dodge them all but there was just too many and he got hit in the stomach. Jerod clutched his midsection and coughed heavily having the wind knocked out of him.
Jerod was furious now. This thing had the nerve to tell him what to do when he trying to kill him. He's just messing with him, and he wont stand for it.
He stomped right up close to Astigmatism and stared him down. "That is enough! I'm not going to stand here and let you toy with me! So you better back down before I make you" he said flexing his biceps.
Astigmatism's demeanor became more aggressive as he snarled at Jerod. "How dare you! You dare challenge me!" He roared.
"I do and I will!" Jerod said not losing eye contact and not backing down.
Final Froggit gave an impressed croak as Whimsalot muttered 'courage'
Jerod and Astigmatism continued to stare each other down waiting for the other to give in. It lasted a couple of minutes until Astigmatism blinked and then he started chuckling.
"Heh, impressive. That really takes guts." He said stepping back. "Alright you win." he ended the battle. Jerod nodded and watched him walk towards his comrades.
Final Froggit, Whimsalot, and Astigmatism all looked at the group and left the room.
John, Jerod, and Diego continued on with the rest of the group, injured but still alright.
"heh, i knew those kids had it in them." said Sans as the others at the bar were cheering at the humans victory of the fight.
Sans then noticed John and Jerod munching on a delicious looking doughnut.
"hmm, that really looks good"
Sans felt the room heat up. He looked at Grillby whose flames were intensifying.
He couldn't believe it, Grillby was actually jealous right now. "what, you getting steamed up?" he teased. Grillby huffed and continued cleaning the glasses.
The group were walking along a long catwalk when they noticed something down below. They saw large blocks of ice being dumped into the ozone below.
"Hey I recognize that." Jerod said. "Those are the blocks of ice that wolf from snowdin throws into the river. But why are they being dumped here?"
"Hmm" John thought "It looks like it's to cool the Core down. Makes sense, every power plant needs some form of cooling to prevent overheating and I really don't think a meltdown will end well down here."
"Or it could be used to make ozonated water." Iris said. The group looked at her in bewilderment. "You know, ozonated water. They're used to clean clothes, sanitizes food, and purifies drinking water."
"A power station making water? That doesn't make sense." Jerod said
"And a meltdown from a reactor with ozone does?"
"Well... yeah."
"Hmph. Well for your information, ozone simply decomposes into oxygen at high concentrations and temperatures. It's completely harmless to not cool it down."
Jerod was flustered as the others went on. They then noticed an interesting looking door at the end of the catwalk.
"Guy's I think that's the end!" Caleb exclaimed
"Really? How do you know that?"
"Look at it. Blinking lights, dark room inside, and at the end of a long catwalk. Doesn't that spell out 'boss room'?"
"He has a point" John said
"Then that means that Mettaton is in there." Delilah said
"And past that is the the elevator to the Kings castle" Frisk added. Everyone knew that, and it scares them to even think of it.
"We'll worry about that later, first we gotta deal with Mettaton." John said. The group nodded and headed inside, filled with determination.
"OH YES. THERE YOU ARE, DARLINGS" Mettaton said to the group. He was standing in the middle of the room. "I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE WALK THROUGH THE CORE."
The group glowered at him.
"ALRIGHT THEN, LETS NOT KID OURSELVES HERE. YES EVER SINCE OUR FIRST SHOW I'VE BEEN ATTEMPTING TO KILL YOU."
"NO SH!T" Said Jerod, getting elbowed by John.
"BUT YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW WHY."
"Of course we know why, just like everyone else you want to take our Souls to the king so the Barrier can be shattered." said Iris confidently.
"WRONG!"
"Wh-what?" asked Iris being caught completely off guard.
"IF THE KING SHATTERS THE BARRIER THEN WAR WILL BE DECLARED ON HUMANITY. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY. MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. I'LL TAKE ALL SEVEN OF YOUR SOULS, CROSS THROUGH THE BARRIER... AND BECOME THE STAR I'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BEING! HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS... NO! MILLIONS OF HUMANS WILL WATCH ME! GLITZ! GLAMOUR! I'LL FINALLY HAVE IT ALL!
The group stared agape at him.
"You would abandon all of the Underground and leave them trapped...just to be famous!" Delilah said angrily
"Not only are you planning on killing us, but also taking the monsters one opportunity at freedom?" Jerod said furious.
"How can you do that to your fans?" Diego said disappointed
"You could have tried to find a different way around this!" Iris yelled
"What your doing is wrong on so many level." Caleb said
"Have you ever stopped to think that what you are doing is going to hurt so many people?" John said
"We won't let you do this" Frisk added
Mettaton grew frustrated "SO WHAT IF A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE? SO WHAT IF SOME PEOPLE DON'T AGREE WITH ME? AND SO WHAT IF IT MEANS HURTING OTHERS? THAT'S SHOW BUSINESS, BABY! NOTHING IS GOING TO HOLD ME BACK FROM MY DREAMS! NOT YOU, NOT MY SHOW AND NOT BL-... ANYWAY, MY POINT IS THAT IT'S HAPPENING NOW AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME."
"We'll see about that!" Jerod said as he charged toward Mettaton, pulled his fist back, and punched him hard.
CLANK
Jerod stepped back and was holding his hand that was currently aching badly from the punch.
Mettaton chuckled. "NICE TRY BUT ANY OF YOUR ATTACKS ARE USELESS AGAINST MY METAL FRAMED BODY. NOW PLEASE WAIT THERE AS I ADDRESS THE AUDIENCE." he faced the camera and started to speak "HELLO BEAUTIES AND GENTLE-BEAUTIES TO MY LAST SHOW Before..."
"Guys we have to do something. He's going to kill us." Caleb said
"I know! Let me just think of something." said Iris "There has to be a shutoff button or a fail safe somewhere to render him vulnerable.
Delilah noticed something on Mettaton's back. "How about that switch?"
Iris looked "I guess we don't have much of a choice."
Delilah sneaked up behind Mettaton as he was still saying his monologue.
"...some OF YOU MIGHT BE UPSET THAT I AM LEAVING BUT DON'T BE. I AM GOING TO SEE BIGGER BETTER THI-" He froze when he felt someone flip his switch
"DID YOU...JUST FLIP...MY SWITCH?" Suddenly he clutched his head, the grid of lights on him started blinking rapidly, and his body began shaking as steam came out of him. The steam covered the entire stage as his body shook more and more rapidly.
"What's happening?" asked Delilah
"I have no idea." said Iris
The lights went out and everything was silent. Suddenly a bright flash of light came out of the dark, blinding everyone. All that be heard was,
"Oh Yes!"
Well it looks like things are getting...steamy.
...
I'm sorry, that was an awful pun.
What a calamity! Will the humans survive Mettaton? What did that switch do? Will Jinx198 become the best fanfiction writer ever? Has anyone reading this honestly not played the game yet? Find out next time on "GROUPTALE: AN UNDERTALE AU"!
See you guys later,
HAVE FUN!