Chapter Twenty-Six:
Lying in the Spotlight
Where are they?
"HUMAN!"
Papyrus called for Chara for the tenth time while heading towards the Throne Room.
He had no idea if the child was ahead of him or behind and it was frustrating.
"I will catch you, Human..."
Chara was the last one.
The last threat to his brother.
If Sans still wanted him to be a good person, he would just have to suck it up. Papyrus already went down that route and here he was finding dust...everywhere.
Little savage.
"Human!"
"They're not here darling. I'd of caught them on my scanner..."
Papyrus stopped instantly and turned around. "Who's there?! Show yourself!"
Laughter echoed throughout Waterfall.
"Heh heh ha ha ha! My! Someone's itching for a fight..."
Mettaton.
Papyrus turned around and kept walking.
"Leaving so soon darling?"
Papyrus ignored him.
"Hmph. I take it you're not a fan?"
"Of your music, yes. Of your ego, no."
"*Gasp!* I don't have an ego!"
"And I don't have the patients to deal with you. Either help me find the human or go back to whatever rock you crawled off of."
Mettaton flew in front of the bridge and put his hands on his hips. He obviously didn't plan on letting Papyrus by.
Is he REALLY trying to intimidate ME?
Unbelievable.
He thinks just because he got a few upgrades, no one can put him on the ground...
"Excuse me please, I believe you're in my way."
"Oh, now you want to be charming? Funny how you didn't feel like it while I was all the way up there..."
"Are you looking for a fight or just attention? Most of the Underground has been evacuated to the Lab-"
"I was GOING to offer my assistance." said Mettaton thoroughly annoyed. "Hotland's puzzles have been reactivated."
"You're kidding..."
God, I hate Hotland.
"Would I lie to you? I COULD carry you over to the castle. I could fly right over those obnoxious little puzzles, but..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...If you expect me to beg, I will not."
"Ugh! What is with you?!"
Could this metal peacock really get me to His Highness faster though?
Perhaps I should give it a go. After all, if I don't swallow my pride am I any better than him?
"I'm sorry Mettaton. I was going for the treat-woman-like -garbage-so-they'll-like-you tactic, but it clearly backfired. I hope you can forgive me," said Papyrus hanging his head.
This had better work.
"I'm not a woman!" exclaimed Mettaton sticking his nose up in the air.
Papyrus could feel his anger beginning to take control of him, but he kept his smile plastered to his face.
"Really? You're so beautiful I thought for sure you were female. I guess people WEREN'T calling you a guy because they were jealous. Nyehoo! I'm so embarrassed!" lied Papyrus, hiding his face in his gloves.
Mettaton put a hand on his shoulder, feeling sorry for the poor creature."Oh sweetie! Is that what you thought? You are such a dear," said Mettaton giggling. "and might I add an amazing actor! I may just ask you to be in my new movie..."
Papyrus's eyes lit up. He was going to need his font for this; he could feel it.
"Wowie! You mean it? Even after I was so mean?"
"Of course darling! Anything for such a talented fan...personally I found you very attractive..."
Ugh. I'm not even on the conveyor belts and I'm still gonna be sick. Who does this arrogant fool think he is? I have higher standards than that! My brother has a better chance of getting a ride in my race car...
Papyrus tapped into his font and put up an illusion of him blushing.
"Here you go sweetheart. Hop on and I'll take you right to Asgore. Don't be shy..."
Papyrus hopped onto Mettaton's back and they took off.
He had to admit, it was better than traversing Hotland on foot. He liked puzzles, but those in Hotland were just plain bad.
Nothing there took any amount of physical skill. The conveyor belts moved you everywhere too fast and you couldn't even jump on your own; there were spring loaded squares that did that for you. EVERYTHING was done for you.
The most challenging parts of Hotland were the lasers and maybe ONE of the shooting puzzles.
Papyrus shook his head in disgust and decided to strike up a conversation with Mettaton.
It's better than dwelling on these horrible puzzles...
"Golly, I'm not used to seeing you in this form Mettaton! You look so cool!"
Mettaton's form WAS a lot different than the square Papyrus had grown to hate. He now looked almost like a human, if they looked like an 80's rock star, had ugly wings, and sported an arm cannon.
"Why thank you! I picked out the design myself, though Alphys was the one who made this fabulous body."
Why would she give an entertainer a cannon for an arm?
"Who's Alphys?"
"The Royal Scientist of course. As I am the epitome of beauty, she is the epitome of brilliance."
If all the areas are empty and the puzzles in Hotland are back on, Alphys probably evacuated everyone into the Lab. It has the best security after all. Why is Mettaton here though and not with the others?
Did Alphys redesign him for fighting the human?
"She sounds amazing! Is she as popular as you and Undyne?"
Mettaton sighed deeply. "No, unfortunately, she's a shy one..."
Papyrus noticed the sad tone in Mettaton's voice and became concerned.
That wasn't past tense.
There's no way Mettaton would ever care about anyone but himself. He doesn't care if Alphys isn't popular. So what is he upset about?
If Alphys is alive then...
"Where is Undyne?"
Mettaton took a deep breath.
This was the hundredth time he'd been asked that question. He had spent the entire day at Alphy's request, picking up monsters and flying them over the puzzles to the lab, and every once in awhile a monster would ask about Undyne.
It broke his heart every time he had to break the news to them. Mostly because it was the children who asked the most.
"My dear, I'm afraid Undyne...is no longer with us."
"..."
She's dead huh?
Incredible.
Papyrus had called Undyne and warned her about the human's power before they had even got to Snowdin. He had told her fighting them and winning was impossible and asked her to evacuate the Underground FIRST.
Damn it Undyne! You had one job!
The worst part was she had agreed. She told him she would make sure every last monster made it safely into the lab, but not only did she not do that, she couldn't even be bothered to collect his brother.
Guess she decided to throw one last lie my way.
Why did I put my trust in her TWICE?
Papyrus looked down below at the rest of Hotland, scowling.
"Lying harpy got what she deserved," he muttered too quiet for Mettaton to hear.
In truth, Papyrus was sad he had lost Undyne; despite all her faults she had been family. His grief however was right now overshadowed by his anger towards her. It really hurt when someone told him they were going to do something and then changed their mind. What good was being able to spot liars if people could lie to him AFTER he was gone?
If his brother were here...and still Comic Sans, he'd of called her a flakey fish.
"Heh..*sigh*..."
Papyrus closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to pull himself out of his mood. When he opened them he saw someone crawling along the ground below them.
A very familiar someone.
"Oh my god."
"Oh look! There's a monster down there-"
"Keep going."
"What?"
"DON'T stop."
"Well we have to help...her? Is it a girl you suppose?"
"DO NOT STOP!"
"But darling, she's missing her feet..."
"I SAID DON'T STOP!"
Mettaton flew a little lower and circled the crawling girl like a buzzard.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Oh it IS a little girl!" squealed Mettaton happily.
The crawling girl looked up and smiled at them, showing a row of sharp needle-like teeth. She had blood dripping from her mouth.
"THAT'S NOT A LITTLE GIRL, THAT'S THE DEVIL!"
"Such a pretty smile!"
Mettaton flew them down and waved to grinning girl. Papyrus wrapped his legs around Mettaton's waist, refusing to get off.
SKRITCH!
SKRITCH!
SKRITCH!
"Hello darling! Do you need a lift to the Lab?"
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO-"
The little girl nodded, extending her arms.
"Re-lax dear! She's-"
GRRUUUMM!
The sound of bending metal filled the air as the girl's teeth clamped down on Mettaton's arm.
She bit through his arm!
She bit through his freakin' arm!
Mettaton shrieked and waved his arm about rapidly, trying to get her off.
"OH! OH GOD!"
"mmmmph!"
A strange pink fluid began to leak from Mettaton's arm, pooling at his feet and covering the girl's hands.
"SHOOT HER!"
Mettaton fired up his cannon, but the girl let go and crawled away towards the Resort Area.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"
"She's leaving already-"
"SHOOT THE BLOODY HEATHEN!"
Mettaton ignored him and took off into the sky once more.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! IT LIVES!"
"I'm not shooting a hungry child!"
"ARE YOU INSANE?! KILL IT!"
Mettaton ignored him once more and flew off despite Papyrus's protests.
"Here we are darling!" exclaimed Mettaton after ten minutes of silence.
A fuming Papyrus hopped off and glared at the ground. "This is the Resort," said Papyrus.
"Well, the Core messes with my circuitry when I fly around there. Far too much electricity and magic in the air."
Mettaton switched out of EX mode to conserve energy.
"Oh good. Now I can waste time solving THOSE puzzles."
And I bet the place is COVERED in conveyor belts too.
"They've been shut off actually. The child has already solved them," said Mettaton bitterly. He had worked hard rearranging the room and setting up those puzzles. He had even placed the strongest mercenaries along the paths; all to no avail.
"So?"
"So what?"
"So why don't you turn them back on?"
Papyrus didn't really want the puzzles turned back on, but if there was something wrong with the Core, he wanted to know. He didn't want to end up like Gaster and his lackeys.
Is the Core malfunctioning right now?
"Because they'll just solve them again," said Mettaton as if the answer were obvious.
"They could still buy you some time!" exclaimed Papyrus in disbelief.
Do not tell me...
"We don't need time. I'm going to wait near the exit of the Core and ambush the little roach when they come through. Right now they are most definitely still in Waterfall. I just stopped there to cool my circuits, also your brother needed help pushing a rock or something..."
Wow.
Wow wow wow...
"Have fun," said Papyrus walking into alley. He planned to head towards the Throne Room as soon as possible, but he REALLY needed to kill SOMETHING. Perhaps the human missed a monster?
"I think I'll go on ahead, you're a lot heavier than you look darling, no offense. Maybe you should skip the shop inside?"
I hope he winds up in more pieces than a jigsaw.