The Gates of Hell

Elizabeth: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Eleanor Lamb: Just so you all know, this chapter heralds a change in the way dialogue is presented...

Jing pitied the kid… he had Karina to cuddle against when sleeping in the vex realm. The child had Napstablook's haunted house, which offered a very hard wooden floor to lie on, with San's loaned hoodie folded up to use as a pillow… the kid was apparently dreaming of flying through very deep space, seeing galaxies and star clusters… Napstablook got up as the child did. He put his arm around the ghost to act as thanks… but only got Napstablook's chair backrest instead, he was sure it meant all the same to the incorporeal entity, "Thanks for everything Blooky… it was very nice of you to let me spend a night here… but now I must go. Chin up ok? Try to cheer up more."

Napstablook nodded and returned to his computer… Jing realized he shouldn't have fired on Undyne's property now, especially since he hadn't initially known whose it was… the path leading there was now cordoned off to investigate for evidence… he could here a very frustrated Undyne screaming her head off and raving from that direction… thanking his fortune that no royal guards were in the area, he made off towards the path that would lead past Gerson's shop, electing to pay the aged turtle monster a visit, who perked up on seeing a customer,"Whoa there! I've got some neat junk for sale…"

They made eye contact… and for an instant there was silence… The elderly turtle started laughing, "Gwahahahahaha, I know the look of one wise beyond their years… you're an old soul, aren't you? But I know that kind of look, if I were to try to attack you I'd be in some hot water, eh?" Jing wondered how his demeanor simply flowed out of the kid like that, " But you won't… and I really don't want to kill or hurt anyone if I can help it." Gerson narrowed his eyes, "Good… good… now let me hazard a guess… if you don't do archeology you at least like history?"Jing relaxed a bit, "Among some other things, but that topic can be saved for another time…" Gerson laughed again, "Gwahahahahaha such sass lass… or are you a lad? I can't tell, you humans are confusing in childhood." "Wait, you know I'm a human and you're not turning me over to the authorities?" Jing enquired…

Gerson paced around the human child stroking his beard, "You aren't the first here… and probably not going to be the last either…" He pulled out a tattered notebook of yellowing pages and some old glasses where they had clouded up in a way that could probably never be cleaned off… "Fancy that, kid… if you like them I'll offer you both for gold." Jing regarded the artifacts before him, "That still doesn't explain why you don't want to turn me over…" Gerson's face betrayed a hint of annoyance at something in the past, "Asgore and me once agreed it'd actually be pointless to leave the underground because we'd just be killed all over again… It's a right betrayal of his to change his mind that day… but then, young'uns are young'uns… most of them who fell down here were pretty harmless… well… most… that notebook there had two owners… it's torn because it was used by studious boy, when it reached the hands of it's second owner, who used it as her dairy… she ripped most of his pages off! Gwahahahahaha… the glasses are still his though."Jing started contemplating information he had received from Toriel earlier, "Interesting… the girl was also the biggest human child you had ever seen, wasn't she?"

In the vex dimension Karina had taken her chance to sleep, her ghost though, heard Jing and raised his eyebrow. "Gwahahahahaha, you've done some detective work haven't you? Yes, she was… when I first saw her and she initially bought this notebook from me in this here shop… I thought I was talking to an adult human warrior! Of course then I realized her shoes and that big poufy skirt were for human dance arts after getting to know her…" Gerson's faced saddened a little. Jing began to pry the notebook turned diary, "Mind if I read it?" Gerson snatched the book back, "I won't, as long as you buy it first! Gwahahaha, I'll have you know if you say yes this will be the second time I'm selling this thing… hopefully I don't get it back again, because that'd mean… Asgore got your soul now, eh?"

Jing handed Gerson some gold, he didn't mind, he had a good reserve after the concert he staged with Sans and Shyren… Gerson counted the coins, "Nice chatting with you kid… by the way, be careful when you head outside and onwards… Undyne came in to refill her frost dust, and asked about you… also says there's quite a force to block your way and nab you apparently…" Jing kept the diary, "I'm not too worried about… wait. What's frost dust?" Gerson placed a can on the counter, "Ah… here, have a canister of it, for free! You might need it where you're heading if you get there."

Jing took the can and examined it… Gerson continued to explain, "Most of the Royal Guard is of the same species of monster as Undyne, physically strong naturally, great swimmers as well, but they're part fish… so when they patrol places like Hotland, they have to apply that to control temperature or they risk drying out in the heat… or in extreme cases… becoming crispy enough to serve alongside chips… I used to apply it myself when I was mining gems in the lower levels of waterfall…"

Gerson stroked his beard for a moment as he paused, "Dangnabbit Fluffybuns, you're real bad at naming things." Jing noticed a black rune in the stone wall and was intrigued by it. "What's that emblem mean by the way?" "Gwahahahaha, you ain't got anymore chat time for that kid! You've got Undyne at her home which I assume you shot up and the royal guard to go through in front of you, now hold your sass and get going before you get all rocked and hard placed!" Gerson noticed the sawn-off shotgun on the child's back as Jing was about to exit his abode and called out… "Hey kid… I don't smell any EXP or LOVE on you… so… I'd personally appreciate it if you don't go the way that tall girl did after she returned the notebook to me… because I see that boomstick on your back… and you know under that armor you're pointing it on sons, fathers, husbands, wives, daughters… mothers…" "Heh…" His ghost buzzed around him with Karina's as they left the shop. "Don't go the way of that tall girl… are you speculating that…" Karina's ghost finished the sentence, "That my guardian is from one of these children?" Jing looked at his lover's ghost, "You could tell us…" The male voiced ghost sheepishly bobbed, "I never saw the actual corpse I was interfacing with… I just did my thing when I found a light compatible set of human remains… and she punched her way out of the ground."

He gave Gerson a smile before leaving… the aged tortoise monster wasn't sure if it was meant to be reassuring or if it was a hint of the futility of trying to avoid people being hurt in situations of inevitable violence… either way that human knew how to care for itself from what he understood… Gerson just hoped he wouldn't see a dust covered corpse of a human child carried past his shop entrance again… or worse… read the entries of a dead child he had befriended barely a while ago form that notebook once again… he hated having that thing to remind him of the dead human children who passed through and met their fates… he had been an old soldier warring with humans once, but children were still children.

Woshua splattered soap water which evaporated instantly as it spoke, "Dirty. Dirty dirty dirty dirty!"Jing began to reach for his weapons, "What?" Woshua invaded his personal space sniffing, "Smelly…" Jing gave the hoodie a whiff… being dunked in water and rapidly dried of twice and falling into the garbage dump then treading through it had done his attire no favors… "You're right…" Woshua piped up enthusiastically, "clean away, remove germs?" "How?" Woshua grinned ear to ear, "Green magic…" Jing watched as blue and green waves began to be emitted from the bath tub turtle creature… and glided to avoid the blue waves and let the green connect…. Woshua waved and went on it's way shortly after… he felt like he had taken a good bath… and the clothes no longer reeked, smelling of mint and lemon fresh wash… "Hmm…" His ghost spoke up again, "Boss?" He gave Jeanie instructions "Keep stock of this…" "Roger that." He addressed Karina's ghost as well, "Get the telemetry, show Karina when she wakes up." Her ghost bobbed to nod.

He spotted Aaron reading something about paranormal investigations under the next waterfall, and was happy to be ignored… An obnoxiously loud cheerful voice sounded off, "Hoi!" Jing recovered from slight shock, "Hey." He looked at the cat dog hybrid creature before him, it was adorable but quakingly weird in the face, "A human! Must pet!" "What?!"

Seeing temmie's leg stretch like a tentacle and curl unnaturally while chasing him was more than enough to freak him out, and instinctively he didn't want to be touched by it. He unholstered the shotgun. "Back off!" Temmie freaked out and sweated bullets in fear, "EEEEEEeeee! Guns… not… cute!" It fled… Jing breathed a sigh of relief and the terrain seemed to change a little, but a Royal Guard was in his way, though thankfully he was facing away from the child… Jing did a kick and warlock melee between his legs… he slumped to the ground from the fetal position in pain… whimpering… a knock to the head ended it. "Nasty." His ghost commented. He shrugged his choice of groin attack off, "Perk of being tyke tall. Besides, he ain't dead." Jeanie processed his visual memory feed, "Why're they guarding the mushrooms?" "Obviously it's the way out of here somehow, I remember these lighting up or shutting off on touch, let's go."

The PA crackled to life again… The nervous wreck of a voice he now knew as Alphys spoke up , "Ahem, Alphys here again guys, one of your er buddies has… fallen asleep on duty in the room? Well, hopefully it's just sleep, heh heh… please check on him!" The royal guard he had been sneaking up on turned around as the PA went silent… there was a split second of silence as they regarded each other. "It's here! The hum~ mmmmm…ph!" His suddenly silenced yell of course, attracted the attention of the others… Terry as evidenced by his name tag yelled while sprinting over, "Over here! We got to check on Clay and Jim!" Angus sprinted to the way onto the city, "I'll cover the exit…" Johnny the last one made his way to the side of Terry, "You do that Angus…" The two paired up back to back, cross bow and shotgun at the ready… making their way towards where Jing had entered the room from… "How's it looking John boy?" Johnny spoke while keeping back to back with Terry, "Clay and Jim are out, they aren't dead cause they'd be dust, but otherwise… oh man… the mushroom here's lit…" There was a swooping swooshing noise… "Johnny what was that? Hey john boy, you mind slowing down a bit? I can't feel your back against mine…" Terry looked up… Johnny was suspended from a stalactite on the ceiling upside down, suspended by a rope around his ankle. "Johnny what the hell are you doing up there?!" Johnny flailed as much as he screamed or shouted, shaking the rope, "The human! Quick! Cut me down… I… I'm…" Johnny blacked out… Terry freaked out as Johnny's helmet slipped off his head and bounced on the ground once near him… near a silhouette… which planted it's foot on the helmet to stop the bouncing… "Get away from me! Stay away!" Angus could only see what was the silhouette of Terry's helmet go down… as the rest of the mushrooms fully illuminated the room… he started to run for the other room where more of the Royal Guard was… several echoing booms spilled throughout the room.

Angus fell… his legs paining severely… he tried to crawl forwards as one more hard knock via shotgun butt to his head ended the fight here. The vex realm's silence was broken by Jing's ghost, "He may never walk again with what you just did…" "Couldn't risk him escaping… he won't die though… hm… seems there's another exit here that Harley never found before… let's check it out…" His ghost nodded as he continued.

Jing followed the path for a moment… it was the Temmie village… and they seemed ignorant that a big fight had just concluded at their door step… there was a sparkle present… he interfaced with it… though he felt a little sillier for coming in here… he went into the shop, detemmined to leave after making a purchase or window shopping. The shopkeeper of course, was a temmie, "Hoi!" Jing regarded one of the items she had one sale, "College… you want a donation?" He put the gold the temmie needed on the table… The Temmie shopkeeper's eyes popped out of her head in awe, "That's a lot of muns… wow… ok, tem go colleg and make you prouds!" "Did she forget her face?" Jing replied to his ghost, "I'm more amazed how she graduated and is now back in the time we're saying this." The temmie Shopkeeper's face slipped back onto the faceless void her head had apparently been at college, "Tem learn lots of new tings! Tem show y"ou, da temmie armor! It's good yas?" Jing decided to have fun imitating her speech pattern, "Yaya…"

This actually looked functional and had even had technology ahead of it's time built in, bio foam injectors and ballistic protection… it might even be usable in his era if he could keep it… well, usable for a child anyway. "But its too guds… maybe battles become too ez if you takes this… maybe if u dies more Tem lower price?" Jing didn't care, he was still loaded as hell from the concert and matched the price tag with gold on the counter… to make his point however… he held his breath until the child turned blue and died from asphyxiation… Tem watched in shock and mild horror before he resurrected himself… "Ok, tem lower price, dun do dat agains…" His ghost was slightly alarmed at his choice. "You do realize the poor kid will remember that right?!" "I do… but then Harley's been worse with the child's body already anyway, nevermind being possessed and soul stolen earlier." He thought about that, did the kid remember or did only Harley?

He wore the temmie armor underneath the hoodie and continued onwards, noting that Woshua had somehow caused Papyrus' shoddy dyework to be fixed into proper neat purple stripes instead… the feelings of joyful silly randomness left him as he exited the Temmie village and continued on the path he knew Harley had taken… he wondered if he could linger there longer… it had been a long time since he operated without the Theosyion Vibrissae… though he was glad the time he was using it would soon end for good… he actually liked the Temmie village atmosphere… he felt like he wasn't on antienthogens for a moment.

The royal guards he had konked out were evacuated by this point… which mean the next room was ready for him and expecting the child any moment… it was totally dark as well… apart from a little pinkish-red light of the glowing crystals… unlike the last room however… he didn't need to light up the road to progress. "Shock and Awe." That was a cue to his ghost to activate the stormcaller suite of powers, she had to remind him though, remembering Harley on arc blade, " Don't fry them into arc particles…" "Don't worry… I know how to turn the voltage down… and get a longer storm from it… electrostatic mind, transcendence and ionic blink, no landfall… don't want accidents." She complied. A royal guard yelled out hearing the footsteps, "What's that noise? Hammer! Reaver! Sparrow! Garth! Hit the crystals, we need light now!" Four voices that were presumably Hammer, Reaver, Sparrow, Garth, "Yes Theresa!"

The room lit up, Jing counted at least 4 dozen royal guards present… all bearing spears, axes, some crossbows and crates containing probably submachine guns and shotguns. Theresa warned, "It's over human, surrender… your main advantage, sneaking around in the dark is gone…" A wisp of Arc energy flitted out of Jing's eyes and the child's at the same time… one or two guards visibly reacted to it in fear, some gripped their weapons tighter… Jing confidently smirked, "I have a better suggestion, you all go home now, and leave me be… go spend this day with your families and loved ones… none of you here need to be hurt… or heaven forbid my hand slips and I actually score a fatal blow."

An arrogant, haughty insufferable voice spoke out, Jing noticed the guard's name tag was Reaver, "Well, I like those chances, that means you're not fighting at your best, arrogant of you, but an edge we'd take… however noble you think that makes you…"Hammer chimmed in, "And while it is regrettable… there's only one of you, and so many of us, so many monsters who with your soul, will return to the light of the sun… our hopes ride higher than ever, now that you are here, the last one."

Arc energy leaked from the child's eyes again, "I cannot let you all perform genocide on my people." "There was a child who the king, through us Royal guard, offered a chance to live the rest of her life in luxury here in the underground… then she would turn her soul over willingly when her life expired… she refused and we had to kill her… her shoes and ridiculous skirt are still lying around waterfall, though you have wounded some of our brothers in arms, we offer you this amnesty for now… it would be wise for you to take it.." Garth cautioned…

Jeanie shook her head in the Vex space, "Oh boy, he shouldn't have said that… things will only go one way now." Harley's ghost raised an eyebrow, "What did he or they say? Whos out there?" Karina's ghost shushed her, "Shh… we'll get the chance to find out."

Theresa tapped her foot, "Your soul is ours either way, isn't that right? You must know…" Jing felt himself growing irritated and exasperated, "I am trying to solve a riddle across time and space that I cannot let you all stop me from finishing, there may yet be a happy ending for your people if I am allowed to settle this… if you kill me now, know you deny yourselves possibly that and are at the risk of otherworldly forces you all could possibly never comprehend, forever… They can manipulate your lives and you would never even know."

One royal guard set his weapon on the ground and stepped forwards… he removed his helmet and his hair was greying from brown with a beard and moustache… he pulled out an aged piece of parchment. "I am sir Walter… and child… with your soul, our king, Asgore… will have the power to stave off any evil that threatens us, seven souls would make a monster a god… you should relax your shoulders and accept this contract, which only needs to be amended to your name, luxury every day of your life until you die, is that not desirable? You have the look of one who has seen too many winters for your age… let your burdens go… cast them upon our king, as we did."

A Royal Guard yelled, "Are we just going to talk? Lets just use our numbers, mob the human and win…" There were some chants of agreement… and nods… "Shut up Page!" Walter roared. Sparrow said something though, "Shouldn't we consult captain Undyne?" Page snorted, "She's busy at her house which was shot up with buckshot, though she could be along any moment if we called."

Walter leaned closer and pulled out a pen… gesturing to the old tattered sheet with Asgore's seal stamped upon it. "For your sake, please… not all of us have borne the burden of ending young life…" The child stepped back a bit from Walter as the room's crystals began to dull their glow, some guards reactivated them, keeping the room decently lit. Jing fought the urge to draw his weapons, "This is the last time I am repeating my offer. Leave now, or I will send you back to your loved ones cripples, paraplegics, disfigured and amputees." Reaver spat, "What arrogance! Charge the human!"

The room roared and the fight began… "This is a trap… but it's not for whom you think… You've all chosen to be locked in here with me… and forced me to trigger it."

The three forward most guards yelled and trembled as the ground they trod onto was splashed by a pulse grenade… falling silent from it… the rest waited while two brought shotguns and crossbows to bear, which were shot out of their arms by Jing immeditaley… though the sawn-off aspect of the gun combined with Burden of Proof XI's nature also caused them some injuries by the void rounds… Jing vaulted onto a guard amongst the crowd with glide and slammed his helmet repeatedly while electrocuting one who attempted to pry the child off with a charged Thunderstrike… he noticed the greater dog among the yelling mob of guards and abandoned his attempts to knock out the royal guard the child had been piggybacking, leaping onto the large armored canine instead… "Hey big fellow, remember me?"

The greater dog barked in loud approval as some guards froze in surprise while others covered their ears… a few put together what was happening… "Good. Mush!"

A few dozen guards were bowled over unconscious as the greater dog charged, unable to tell between a fight or play… Sparrow saw the room begin to dim and kicked the crystal next to himself… but nobody else around had the spare time or capacity to bother with it in the chaos of the battle, and their… to his horror, rather rapidly diminishing numbers… some guards were too injured to continue, others were trying to flee with their comrades who had buckshot and/or stab and/or slash wounds from the sword the child was wielding, which seemed too long for the child to manage… although the reality around him sang of the contrary.

He didn't even see how the greater dog went down, although it's unconsciousness seemed far less painful than other instances around him that were inflicted by the sound of bones cracking and pained screaming… Lightning suddenly came down from the roof of the cave, seemingly out of nowhere… as their numbers were now halved and still dwindling… He could still hear the human's voice, distorted, " Power!"

He saw lightning begin to strike and arc around, spreading from the child in webs of dangerous energy from the glowing, crackling form of the levitating child's stretched out hands… several more royal guard fainted from the electrical barrage… "Unlimited…! Power!"

The rooms crystals began to grow dark again, but the lightning whipping around was still more than enough to make it clear how badly the royal guards were losing this fight, spear thrusts and blade slashes, arrows and gun fire all missed the child… and then the lightning stopped… and the room was far quieter and now completely dark… Sparrow couldn't tell how many guards were left… he couldn't find the crystal he had used for light anymore either… only the sound of panicked, nervous breathing and anxious shouts surrounded him…

A set of crystals glowed brighter for a moment and he aimed his gun at the sight, but couldn't tell who or what he was pointing his shotgun at… Page screamed… There was a loud thump… he heard Reaver whimpering as a shotgun there went off… "You would have shot your comrade in the face if I hadn't pushed that barrel down you numbskull!"

A loud crack that sounded like a skull impacting the cave floor followed… Sparrow aimed his shotgun at the crystal and fired… the crystal was destroyed by his pellets, and for a moment he saw the child holding that sword spewing some kind of energy defense that deflected his shotgun pellets away… there was a brief moment where the next nearest crystal was obscured from view for a moment and he fired there… he saw the child for an instant as the crystal gave a final glow before blowing up from his attacking it… His gun clicked dry… he gingerly reached for more shells as the child appeared before him, electrical energy drifting in wisps from human eyes, sword illuminating both their faces… it was swung and dealt him a blow to the head… he felt several rapidly fired punches and kicks that seemed to penetrate his armor before his head was struck in a way that echoed throughout the now otherwise silent dark cave… he would wake up on a hospital bed… his only relief now was that his enemy wasn't killing, but that brought a terrible fear with it… could Captain Undyne or King Asgore handle somebody who could prevail against such odds without taking a life if they decided to drop that simple choice of code?

Jing went into the next room… he saw the grass shake and knew somebody was inside… "Whoever is there, come out… I have no intention to kill, but heaven help you if you try to kill me." It was Monster Kid, "Y… y…. yo…" "Oh, it's you… go home… oh wait, you want to see Undyne eh? I'm sure she'll be along soon. Stick around…" Monster Kid trembled slightly, "I… I have to ask… something really stupid… I know you won't hurt me… and Undyne said you hurt a lot of people but they tried to hurt you first, right?" "Smart kid. Yes…" Monster Kid calmed down ever so slightly at that, "I want to follow you… for a bit pal…" Jing couldn't conceal his surprise at how naïve that sounded, "That, is stupid… I did set fire to a bridge you were standing on." "I… know you aren't bad deep down… you can't be… otherwise things would be way worse… somehow, I… I believe… I know… that you knew because Undyne was there… she wouldn't let me get hurt when you did it." The monster kid was composing himself…

Jeanie wondered aloud in the vex space, "Ripple effect memory proofing?" He replied to her, "Would that the effect were more pronounced… this little… the chance of it making anybody besides Sans useful is somewhere between laughably pathetic to nonexistent." He simultaneously answered monster kid through the child, "Clever… but… I still suspect you just want to follow and watch me fight Undyne, don't you…" "Well… actually, yes… I mean I'd like to see that… but I rather you both don't fight at all anymore… nobody gets hurt if they don't fight you, right?" The monster kid gave him a nervous smile. "Why… you don't think Undyne can beat me up like the other bad guys?"

They went through the field of Echo flowers… "I don't want people who aren't bad to get hurt, and I can tell, you're somebody who doesn't like hurting other people… I… I… if Undyne… fights you… even if she wins… nobody really wins…"Jing closed his eye's and the child's, "You've done some growing up…"Monster Kid pleaded, "Please don't fight Undyne… I'll try to stall her while you run…"Tongues clicked in both Jing's mouth and the child's "Tch, don't you want to see the surface?" "If Undyne kills you and takes your soul… she won't be my hero anymore…" Jing realized the monster kid really was maturing if he could produce such a thought…

They were now across the bridge where Harley had her fateful battle with an Undyne that had somehow been resurrected with light into something resembling a guardian… but Jing recognized that metallic set of foot falls and a glowing yellow eye peeking out from a helmet echoing from down the corridor he had just traversed… "I'll stall her, just go and run… aaaahhhhhhh!" Monster kid had missed his footing…

Jing and Undyne regarded each other cautiously as they watched monster kid gingerly cling onto the rocky pillar between the bridges… each letting their eyes flit to monster kid for instants… "Oh man… oh man… I should have thought this through… help! Please… oh no, I'm falling! Ahhhhh…!"

The child's body sprinted while Jing relayed instructions, "I need a movement edge, Voidlock." Jing's ghost Jeanie replied, "Got it, boss."

Jing and Undyne both leapt after the plummeting monster kid… both streamlining themselves to fall faster… but like he had opted… Jing used blink to close the gap quicker… he caught monster kid in one arm… and used the other, the toy knife pushed out Bolt Caster's blade… and he did his best to stab it into a cliff wall, as Undyne did her spear on the opposite surface to slow their descent… on his side was a wooden ledge that he began to aim for… which seemed to have stairs going up and down… the ledge being used to be a connecting to these two stairs in the cliff… he let go of the toy knife to land on it and set monster kid down… "You alright?" "Yo..Yes…" Jing pointed at the stairs he presumed would lead up, "Get out of here…" monster kid stuttered a reply, "But I…" Undyne chipped in sternly, "Yes kid, please… go."

Monster kid hesitantly looked back at Jing and Undyne… before beginning to move up the stairs that led back up to Waterfall… Undyne kicked off the wall and landed on the wooden ledge… which creaked dangerously… "Well human, your weapon is stuck up there… and you clearly have some nobility and honor to you… surrender to me, and I'll see to it that Asgore gives you the amnesty he offered that human when I wasn't even born yet."

Jing drew the shotgun with blinding speed and fired, but Undyne parried every pellet effortlessly… She looked furious… "Don't test my patience! That won't work on me!"

She stepped forward towards Jing, but the platform gave up on that clank from her metallic boots and crumbled, sending the human child and Undyne into freefall again… Jing gingerly hurled a Vortex grenade back up at where the aged ledge had been… pulling the toy knife free from it's lodging as it was no longer suspended there by the blade of bolt caster… He cushioned his landing with a quick switch from blink to glide… snarfing food to compensate for the slight pain he felt from the child's body… It was exceptionally hot down here and he found himself sweating profusely… he pulled out the frost dust canister he had gotten from Gerson and cracked it open, pouring the contents all over the child… that brought relief from the heat… Undyne was nowhere in sight… he spotted the toy knife stubbed into the ground and reached for it… pausing when a cyan glow appeared around it, but in the next instant immediately reaching for it and then swinging upwards with Bolt Caster through it to parry Undyne's descending magical spear.

"Blast it!" He spotted her through the sound of her voice… and retaliated with a lightning storm from Bolt Caster's blade… but he knew that was probably futile… while it had some tracking properties, Undyne certainly would be more than capable of evading it… that was the correct assessment… Undyne responded with a barrage of magical spears that he activated the Arc forged guard to deflect… they bounced off and into the cave walls… both parties stopped when they noticed the rumbling around them build… and then the ground around the human child's feet cracked apart… as lava poured from the cave walls… he was adrift on the lava flow… Undyne following him from the lava river's bank… if it weren't for the frost dust he knew he and Undyne would have been burned alive by the sheer atmosphere heat already… in her case she'd be cooked alive in her armor…

Another spear was hurled over… he deflected it with the blade guard again, but found himself staggering precariously close to the edge of his rocky raft from the impact… her current magical spears were more kinetic than energy based… he could tell… stepping back to the rock's centre, he leapt and the next spear was thrown, gliding and landing on a larger rock drifting on the magma… He flung a Vortex grenade… Undyne evaded… but the gravity singularity of it pulled… and her armor's frost dust was drained away by it…

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Arrgghhh!" She quickly threw another capsule of it over her armor herself… Jing knew that brief moment when the dust was not on her armor must have burnt her… he didn't attack her when she was reeling though… she might have miss-stepped and tumbled into the lava, there would be no hope then. "You had wounded so many of the royal guard… you sent those 2 sweet dogs to long term ear treatment… crippled and maimed so many of them… you love playing with things then burning them don't you? I should bring Doggo back on the force… I closed an eye… so to speak… when he smoked… then I yelled at him before firing him when I thought he failed to extinguish those doggy treats he smoked… that fire… you started it… as if that wasn't enough, you had to go vandalize my house?!" Jing stifled a chuckle that he hoped Undyne didn't see because some part of him still found it funny despite their current situation, "That was really an accident… but this isn't… we can stop fighting…"

"You are strong… and you have some valour and sense of right or wrong, I will give you that… but I fight to avenge an evil done unto my kind by yours so long ago. I will not be stopped, not by you or any other humans up there! I will deliver your soul to Asgore!" On that declaration Undyne began to throw a barrage of magical spears, Jing moved off his current rocky perch as the blue glows indicated where they would impact… Undyne wasn't stopping… he changed footholds… and watched the spear barrage strike the rock drifting on the lava until it crumbled… he looked for another one and glided for it as his current one met the same fate… He saw Undyne lift up a rock and heave it… he jumped and glided again…

Jeanie relayed the fight from what she could see through Jing's eyes, "She's blowing up all the footholds!" Harley's ghost wanted the telemetry since words weren't enough for a fight description, she was so curious… "What kind of…" Jeanie replied, "We're fighting on a lava flow." Harley's ghost recoiled in surprise, "Holy Crapping f-" Karina's ghost cut her off, "Should I get Karina?" The child and Jing both spoke. "I got this."

He stood now on the smallest rock drifting atop the lava… Undyne heaved another boulder, which he peppered repeatedly with the shotgun as it flew over, shattering before it could collide… he noted that this particular foothold was rapidly melting into the molten rock river and leapt onto what would have to be the final stand he had to make. "It ends now Human… I only ask that you face this blow with dignity, because I respect you as a worthy opponent… sacrifice yourself and your soul and let me claim your body with it when this spear impales you…"

Jing began to back away to the edge of the rock… Undyne panicked visibly, "No! if you fall in there we can't get it! Just die already! Get over here!"

She threw a special spear attack…. No, not threw, there was a very long handle still held by her hands that continued to extend as she threw the thrusting stab… he had a few footsteps of sprinting towards the spear… and slid under the length of it… then grabbed the handle and pulled the child's body onto it… drawing bolt caster again, he charged, sprinting along the top of the magical spear's rod… then jumped, throwing a Vortex grenade at Undyne again, before gliding over the river of molten rock towards Undyne… "No no no no! It's hot, it's hot arrrggghh! She cast another canister of frost dust on herself again…"

Jing was on the same stretch of rock as her now… there were bridges above… meaning this was near where Alphys' lab was… Undyne launched a barrage of swings and stabs with renewed vigour and fury… but her body wasn't matching up to what she wanted to do… the child easily blocked most of her blows and evaded them… she didn't care that the rumbling under their feet was building up again… Jing spotted a rope ladder being thrown down from above… good, he wouldn't need to stab the walls with his blade to climb out… "Stop this now! We are both in serious trouble!"

"Yeah… you are…" Several lava geysers erupted from the flow of magma… Jing immediately put up the Arc forged guard of bolt caster… but Undyne instead chose to attack… her spear glanced off… and left her wide open to some droplets of lava… which easily nullified the frost dust where they connected and ate through her armor… it, to Jing's horror, smelled rather like barbecued fish… "UUwwwwwaaarrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Damn it, mind your surroundings!"

She stopped flailing and passed out… Jing pulled out her last canister of frost dust and emptied its contents into her armor… then cut her charred armor off, tying her to the ladder with her belt and pulled on it… the ladder began to slowly move upwards… as he clung onto it with the unconscious, horribly burned Undyne suspended on it…

Sans tugged hard and yelled, "Pull!" Tsunderplane ignited her engines harder, "It's not like I wanted to help you with this! I just had nothing better to do!" Mettaton's wheel rolled backwards slowly, "Harder my darlings!" Monster Kid's teeth sunk into the rope behind Mettaton, "I don't care if my teeth pop out doing this! Undyne and my human friend are…" Royal Guard 1's efforts broke off his chest armor, "Put your back into it number 2!" Royal Guard 2 tried not to get distracted, "We must…. Save! Captain… Undyne!"

"Ugh!" The group fell over and sat down in relief as Undyne and Jing finally cleared the cliff into Sans' sentry station…Tsunderplane plane flew in one loop, releasing the ladder… which knitted itself back into Pyrope slowly… Jing cradled Undyne's burned form, "Can you help her?"

Sans glanced across her body a few times rapidly, " I'll have to take her to the hospital, now… it smells very bad, and that's not an intended joke."

There was that door clicking noise and Sans was gone… with Undyne… the royal guards 1 and 2 slowly reached for their weapons, Jing reactivated Bolt Caster in response and roared at them. "I just beat, more than 50 of you goons, and outlasted your captain without really trying to attack her, do you really want to do this now?!"

Monster kid ran and stood between them both… " Please! No more fighting… please… nothing good came out of it when Undyne forced him to… please…" "But it's our duty to…" Royal Guard 1 was cut off when he felt Royal guard 2 stroke his chest and abs, "Number 1… let's not… we couldn't beat the captain together… somebody who can fight this well without killing… I don't want to see what happens when their hand gets twisted into… doing it…" Royal Guard 1 relented and lowered his weapon, "Ok, let's just get ice cream… and then get to the hospital and check on all our guys… and the captain…"

Mettaton, Pyrope and Tsunderplane also left… monster kid and Jing finally made eye contact after a few minutes of awkward silence… he took a cup of water from the cooler across the bridge and offered monster kid a sip… which was taken up… "Yo…I don't really know what to feel or think now anymore… I thought Undyne was cool… but… she did that to herself just as much by forcing you to fight right? You didn't do anything that caused her to get hurt… right?" The child looked away from monster kid, "It's a life or death struggle, I wanted us both to get out alive… I'm just glad Sans was around to help…" "I don't know what to think or say anymore… I'm going back to my parents… I kinda blame you for what happened though… even if you didn't really want to hurt her…" Jing looked at monster kid and nodded, "You're not wrong to… later…"

"Later, pal…" Sans came back at this point as monster kid left… "She's stabilizing… but… it's… not pretty." Jing swigged from another cup of water, " I didn't mean for it to become like this…" Sans patted the child's back before speaking, "I know… you meant well, wanted to help Papyrus… guess you really aren't trying to play with our lives… you just can't see how things go despite being here once eh? It's sad isn't it? Doing worse when you want to make things better but causing more damage because you can't see it coming until you've done it…" Sans stopped, he wanted to console, not overanalyze or overthink.

Jing looked away… "Well, maybe I'm not playing maliciously, I'm really trying to find the best way to do things… struggling with everybody's problems and greater scope threats and issues…"

Sans put his hand on the child's shoulder… trying for a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I know you are, would have just continued napping in my sentry station otherwise, heh… promise me you won't give up on that best then… I don't think you'll succeed, but I want to be proven wrong somehow… deep down… after getting to understand you…"

Sans teleported away… Jing noticed Karina stirring from her sleep in the vex dimension… He thought aloud, "So is this gonna succeed now or does it just constitute an experiment or attempt?"

Jing reactivated Bolt Caster through the toy knife and in frustration slashed open the container on the water cooler, letting it wash out all over the kid's body… and hoping what he was feeling would drain away in that rush of liquid… "Grrr… aaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!"

He continued to plod towards what he knew was Alphys' lab. Karina approached him in the vex space and spoke in a concerned tone within the vex dimension. "Beloved?"

He made for where her cheek would be and found the ceramic metal of the Spektar helmet, "How much better do you think I am doing than Flowey or Harley?" "If you have the will beloved… you'll find the way just yet." She reminded and consoled him.