"Frisk!" The group rushed forward as the flower rose, baring fangs as bullets formed. Frisk scrambled back, holding a hand up in meager defense. The bullets flew forward and a pale blue bone intercepted. Frisk gasped, staring wide eyed as a black and white Papyrus knelt before them, struggling to hold it up. Somehow, he was holding his form outside of a vision.
The flower jerked back in surprise as Papyrus shakily stood with a smile, clutching a bone for a weapon as he stepped forward. "I'm afraid you'll have to get past The Great Papyrus another time before you can get at Frisk!" Papyrus seemed to have pieced together the situation fully. That wasn't Flowey in control.
It seemed the others had figured that out as well, for Undyne's soul shot forward, and she took form beside the skeleton, a spear forming, her one eye gleaming. It seemed that their death wounds would not appear. "Yeah, and I'd like another round with you, Punk!"
Asgore and Toriel's souls shot forward, with Asgore forming in a readied stance, clutching his red trident, while Toriel reluctantly summoned her fire magic, much to the flower's distaste. Alphys formed next, but stayed a bit behind the group, knowing that she'd fare better if she attacked from afar. There was a pause, and then Sans came forward, hands in his pockets, before he looked up without any light in his eyes.
"I'm warning you. If you make another move…" He slowly tilted his head, his left eye beginning to glow blue.
"You're gonna have a bad time."
The flower hissed, looking ready to strike, but coming around the odd monsters were the group that had come down with Frisk, along with Gaster, all slipping into readied stances, unsure of what to expect. Gaster floated behind the group, looking ready to summon magic. Grillby's flames crackled, his sleeves drawn back to reveal the flames dancing wildly on his arms.
Strings appeared in the air, looking like live snakes ready to strike. With a day or so to fully recuperate, Muffet was quite able to aid in this confrontation. Gerson had reached back, his hand gripping something hiding in his shell as the old call of battle finally returned to him. Mettaton stepped forward, readying for the fight, while Napstablook hovered in the back, looking on in terror.
Dogamy gave a low growl, stepping forward as he clenched his battle axe. The flower backed down, not liking the numbers. With six monsters from each group, plus Gaster and Frisk…it was fourteen against one, and the flower didn't appreciate those odds. However, they smiled. "It's not me you should be worried about," the flower assured.
There was another rumble, and the ground shook. The group gasped, everyone trying to regain their footing, and the flower smirked, taking the chance to duck beneath the ground, going into hiding. Frisk yelped, falling on the ground again, before the rumbling finally decided to come to a stop.
Monsters swiftly regained their balance, the six recovered souls looking about frantically, knowing that this couldn't be the end, and then they branched out away from the group, Sans and Papyrus going the furthest away, neither looking back to see Gaster, who had actually placed himself far behind the other group to stay hidden from them.
The other group looked shakily at one another, as Dogamy stepped forward. "I…I thought souls can't have a form outside of a vision…"
There were warbling sounds from Gaster attempting to speak, which Mettaton remedied swiftly by using his built in cell phone. "I said that they're not supposed to," he repeated, but then looked around. "Something's wrong in here…"
"What would you mean by that?" Gerson asked worriedly, turning in a slow circle to make sure they weren't about to be snuck up on. He wasn't sure what that flower was planning, but he wasn't about to be taken by a surprise attack.
"The rumbling," Gaster murmured. "I don't think it was a coincidence that it happened right after the human took control."
"The human?" Dogamy asked.
The skeleton monster nodded. "The flower absorbed that one human's soul, but it seemed they were able to gain control over him."
"But are we saying that the flower caused all that rumbling?" Mettaton asked.
"Their roots can go deeper than you think," Gaster said, a look of worry coming to his face. "Now that they're connected to the soil in the Abyss…"
"They might be stronger than originally," Grillby added in concern.
"Won't they be trapped on the island then?" Muffet asked.
"Not necessarily…" Gaster replied.
"Well we have to do something," Napstablook stated. "If they're free, they're going to hurt others."
While the others spoke, Frisk took the Band-Aid they had, wincing as they put it over the bite wound. They would tend to it better after this was all over, right now, they didn't need the blood dripping down their fingers.
"They probably haven't gone too far yet," Gaster stated. "They'd have to adjust to the new form, after all, before they could just go freely about."
Dogamy nodded, before sniffing the air. "I think I might be able to track them a little—"
The rumbling came again, with Gerson grabbing Frisk so that they wouldn't fall. However, more sounds came this time, and those sounds seemed to actually have an owner. There were screeches and wails, thundering roars, and ghastly moans. Grillby stepped back. "…what was that…?" he asked in concern.
"Considering that our recovered souls can take form…" Gaster started. "I think…whatever keeps souls in their vision is no longer active."
"Is…that good or bad?" Napstablook asked.
There was another loud screech. "Completely depends on the individuals," Gaster explained.
"That's not reassuring," Gerson replied.
Napstablook paused. "Oh no…whatever they are, they're coming our way!"
Grillby looked up at them. "You can tell?"
"Ghost monsters can see magic—sometimes souls as well," Mettaton explained.
"What do we do!?" Dogamy demanded. "We can't handle two fronts—especially if we're about to be swarmed!"
"Get your recovered souls," Gaster explained. "If we can hold them off long enough to grab the flower, we might be able to fix this!"
Frisk knew they'd have to find the flower fast if that was the case. With that, they turned, and ran down the shore, with Dogamy racing ahead to get the attention of the recovered beings. The screeching became louder, causing all the monsters to jerk their heads up. "They'll be upon us if we don't move!" Gerson called.
"Looks like this fight is unavoidable," Grillby surmised, summoning his flames as he started to see things moving in the black.
The recovered souls became aware of the danger, and shifted their stances; most preparing for an attack, but Frisk ran past them, having a good idea where the flower might have gone. Just before they found the opening though, the source of the horrendous noises fell upon the shore. Frisk glanced back to see monstrous creatures of varying sizes and shapes attack.
Beast monsters…
It seemed that they were salvageable as souls, if they were allowed down here, but the problem was, most seemed to still share the same mental state as living beast monsters. They were insane, and territorial, attacking the others, but Frisk could trust them to handle themselves for at a little bit. If they just found the flower…
Frisk found the little crevice and squeezed their way in, narrowly avoiding getting struck by an oversized paw with ragged claws nearly snagging the hoodie. Frisk cried out as they squeezed through the narrow gap, falling forward, panting from the sudden exertion. They made it… Shakily, Frisk squeezed through the rest of the crevice, and entered the oddly lit chamber.
They breathed out, and then drew out their stick, clutching it in both hands. They looked around, taking unsteady steps. They were almost certain that the flower would have come in here to get adjusted. After all, only Frisk and Napstablook could get in.
Not seeing anything, Frisk began to slowly walk around the perimeter, constantly looking over their shoulder, peering under low plant life, just in case the flower was hiding amongst them. They checked behind rocks, and near the eight pillars, but nothing seemed to be showing up.
As they passed into the red lighted section, they froze as laughter greeted their ears. "My, my…looking for me?" Their heart pounded. That wasn't Flowey.
It was behind them.
They didn't want to look.
Frisk took several deep breaths, and then whipped around, clutching their stick tight, though their arms quivered; then, they froze, staring in shock and horror. Standing a few feet away, was the corruption in a similar form as Chara had been in within the gardens. However, that was where the similarities ended.
Coiled around their body, like a strange armor, were thorny vines. Frisk could only see their red aura through tiny gaps all around, and the only clear area was around where the eyes were. However, Frisk could see the armor move slightly so that a smile could appear. Dangling lifelessly on the corruption's shoulder was the flower.
"Looking for another run around?" the corruption asked, laughing softly. "Do you really think that measly stick will do anything?" They laughed, having absolutely lost it. "How ridiculous—have you any idea what you're now up against!?"
Without warning, a thin vine launched out of the ground. Frisk gasped, and used their stick to deflect it, getting knocked back in the process. The child yelped, sliding across the ground, before looking back over their shoulder as they leapt to their feet. The Corruption smirked, and sent another vine at them. Frisk jumped to the side, and tumbled out of sight behind a rock.
They panted, leaning against it, clutching their measly stick, heart pounding as they thought rapidly. Their panicked thoughts didn't offer a strategy—Frisk wasn't sure what to do, and then some chilling facts resurfaced. There hadn't been a single save point down here—if they died—and somehow still had the ability to reset with all things considered—they'd most likely go all the way back to before they went down into the Abyss.
All that progress, all that work lost—if they didn't end up with a permanent death. Frisk couldn't let that happen! "Oh," a voice purred as a shadow fell over Frisk. They slowly looked up to see the vine covered ghost. "That's where you were hiding!"
Frisk screamed as a thorn came out of the ground, spearing them through their upper chest. The thorn retreated back, and the child rolled away, managing to get to their feet, limping off as they clutched the wound. They dove around another rock, reaching into their inventory, grateful for the food they had brought along, saving them from certain death.
The wound mostly healed, but it wasn't perfect. Frisk then continued running. They couldn't take that head on—how did they even hurt them!? They were a ghost with a physical armor—it wasn't like with Mettaton where the ghost was fused fully, and the only solution that came was to have magic attacks.
However, Frisk didn't have magic, and therefore, would have to find ways to improvise their way through this battle if they wanted to defeat the corruption and somehow get Flowey back. They ducked behind a tree, clutching the measly stick as their mind raced. Wasn't there some possible way to Mercy someone like that? Frisk was not a killer…barely a fighter, only twice before drawing a weapon, though like now, it was purely in self-defense.
They heard the laughter of the corruption. "Now, now, where are you hiding? Do you really think playing a game of Cat and Mouse with me will change a single thing?" They gave a dark chortle. "My, you really are an idiot."
Frisk hissed through clenched teeth. There had to be something—how could they indirectly hurt the corruption? If they just had some magic to use—wait. Frisk looked around at the seven lit pillars. Seven pillars…each a different color…of magic? Frisk covered their mouth as it clicked. Maybe those pillars of light were made purely of…if that's the case, maybe they could—
They didn't get to finish that thought as a vine barely missed their shoulder, going over it. Frisk cried out and ducked away, jumping over some small rocks, and then clambering up a larger one before whipping around to face the other being.
"My, my, your Sans taught you well, didn't he?" they purred as they stepped forward, the flower unresponsive on their shoulder. "But, I should let you know…that's twice now…that he couldn't dodge forever!"
More vines sprung up from the ground, and Frisk jumped to another rock, trying to stay off the true surface of the chamber so that they wouldn't get another thorn pierced through them. They jumped, swinging their stick, managing to knock some of the vines away, but each one seemed thicker than the last, and coming faster and faster. It was hard to keep track of that, and where they needed to jump next.
They landed on another rock, crouching low, and then sprung off again, only to gag as a vine came around their throat. Frisk was slammed into the ground, their stick splintering into tiny pieces upon impact, but their hand still held a small piece. Then, the vine jerked them back up. Frisk gasped, trying desperately to breathe, clawing at the vine, ignoring that they were cutting up their hands in the attempt.
"There you are," the corruption murmured, walking calmly over as the vine jerked them close so that they were nearly at eye-level, though Frisk wasn't looking at them as they kicked the air, trying to claw at the thorny vine and free themselves. "Do you really think you can stop me now? Have you any idea what kind of power this flower can obtain down here!?" They laughed, the vine slamming Frisk down, releasing their throat for a few precious moments.
Though Frisk couldn't do anything but gasp for breath like a fish out of water. "The soil here—it's not like anything your little prince has ever had before! The amount of power—once I'm a bit more stabilized, I'll make anything this flower has ever done look like a game."
Frisk gulped, coughing again. Something worse than…what Flowey's ever done? That thought was terrifying. As they tried to get back up, the vine came around them again, jerking them into the air. "But the question is what do I do with you? Heh, if I just…squeeze this vine a little tighter…" Frisk squeaked, struggling to free themselves.
"You'll die, and that'll be that, but…you've caused me quite some trouble, and I think…" They pulled Frisk so close, that the thorns on their head brushed Frisk's hair. "I'll make you suffer a while longer. I'll beat you to an inch of your life—then I'll slaughter those outside—after that!" They smiled. "Maybe I'll be merciful enough to end your pathetic life."
Though, the corruption would likely just abandon Frisk to the shambles of it all, and let them live in misery, until death claimed them in some other way. With that, the corruption tossed Frisk, sending them flying. Frisk screamed, crashing through a tree, the branches cutting at them, before they fell out of it, landing on a rock, and tumbling onto the ground, only to get pierced by a thorn as they landed.
It was agony, but the moment Frisk was freed, they grabbed for their health items, but every time they healed, the corruption sent them on another round of pain, and their items never fully restored them as the fight went on, until Frisk found—to their horror—that they were out of healing items in their immediate inventory. They had to access a dimensional box—but not like this!
They made a break for the crevice, but they screamed as a vine struck through them. The vine jerked back out, and they fell on hands and knees, but that didn't stop them from crawling forward frantically. No! They couldn't die here! They scrambled, a thorn piercing them. They were almost there, they couldn't stop now!
As the thorn retreated, Frisk limped frantically for the exit. "Running away are you!?" the corruption asked, laughing. "How brave of you."
Frisk gasped as two vines sprung up by the crevice. Gambling everything, they ran head long toward it. The vines rose, preparing to strike. Frisk jumped, and the vines went to grab them, however…Frisk still had a shard of their stick, and flung it, the oversized shard piercing a vine, causing it to recoil, and for the other to miss Frisk.
The child hit the ground, and tumbled into the crevice. They panted heavily, and began dragging themselves through it, while trying to grab their cell phone. However, the chaos on the other side had been wild while Frisk had been in there.