Chapter 52: The True Laboratory

Frisk answered the ringing phone to the sound of Papyrus' voice. He appeared to be mumbling to someone just outside of their hearing range.

"OKAY, I'LL DO IT… HOWDY, HUMAN! IF IT ISN'T MY GOOD FRIEND, WHO TRUSTS ME! THIS IS PAPYRUS, YOUR ALSO MUTUAL FRIEND. ALPHYS AND I FINISHED OUR TRAINING EARLY. VERY EARLY. SO I DECIDED TO SEND HER HOME. VERY HOME. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT YOU SHOULD GO THERE… ALSO. I HAVE ONLY GOOD FEELINGS ABOUT THIS. GOODBYE!"

He hung up immediately afterward, not letting them get a word in. The strange way he was talking and what exactly he'd been saying made it seem like he'd been reading off a sheet of paper. In fact, he'd opened up with "howdy," and Frisk only knew two people who used that word. There was King Asgore, and...

The human remembered Sans mentioning that a talking flower had befriended Papyrus, but they weren't sure what he could possibly have in mind. Still, with no clues on what else to do, they took a trip with River Person back to Hotland.

Alphys' lab was unusually silent. Nobody was there, and no whirring machinery could be heard. They cautiously walked through it until they came across a handwritten note on the floor, which they picked up and read.

"To Undyne, Papyrus, and Frisk: Hey. Thanks for helping me out back there. Your support really means a lot to me, you guys. But… as difficult as it is to say this… you can't magically make my problems go away by yourselves. I have to face my own mistakes now if I want to become a better person. Let me be clear, this isn't anyone else's problem. But… if you don't ever hear from me again, or if you want to know 'the truth…' enter the elevator near this note. You all at least deserve to know what exactly I did. Sincerely, Alphys."

Frisk looked up from the letter; sure enough there was an elevator door just a few feet away. Growing concerned for their friend, they stepped in without hesitation. It seemed to only be able to travel between two floors, their current location in the laboratory and some kind of basement. They pushed the proper button to descend, and it began moving. However, after a few seconds the elevator's power cut out and Frisk plummeted down the shaft, bracing themselves for the impact of the car with the ground.

Such an impact never came, as the elevator had a built-in emergency brake system that caused them to merely come to a halt at the bottom of the shaft. It was non-functional, though, and Frisk couldn't go back up. Their only choice was to leave the car and explore. Prying the doors open, they finally got a look at where exactly they'd fallen. Within seconds, they inexplicably felt an enormous sense of dread.

The elevator had brought them down to a long teal-tiled hallway with very dim lighting. Some of the walls had cracks on them, others had small cobwebs, but for the most part it was empty to an unsettling degree. Frisk noticed with discomfort that the air was rich with a sickeningly sweet aroma, mixed with some kind of dusty scent. As they slowly walked down the hallway, they began to notice a few screens mounted on the walls and flickering messages at them. In actuality, they resembled test logs for experiments dating back at least three years. Recordings of Alphys' voice emitted from them.

"It's time… I have to live up to the King's expectations. I'm going to find a way out of here by unlocking the power of the soul. Unfortunately, it can't be recreated artificially, so we won't be able to break the Barrier by generating human soul power… this energy can only be derived from what was once living. So, to create more, we'll have to use what's on hand already: the souls of monsters. However, extracting a soul from a living monster would require an enormous amount of power. Besides being impractical, the host itself would die immediately and take its soul with it. Only humans and a special kind of monster have souls that can temporarily last outside the body… I need a way to stop them from disappearing."

With an increasing sense of unease, Frisk kept walking through the depths of the laboratory. The sweet smell only got more and more intense, and the air became thicker. At one point they swore they heard something growl in the corridors ahead, but their imagination was beginning to act up by that point. They hoped that was the answer, anyway.

"Is someone there?" a voice called from the shadows. Frisk turned around to see someone they hadn't even thought about for a while: the gray-scaled Monster Kid lookalike from their first visit to the dump in Waterfall. What was he doing here?

"So... you've arrived, human. I suspected you'd make your way here at some point."

He seemed to have no hostile intent toward them and slowly walked closer.

"Who are you, exactly?" they asked.

"…that doesn't matter. Just call me Goner Kid if you must. I presume you want to find a way out?"

"Yes," Frisk admitted. "This place gives me the creeps."

Goner Kid pointed his tail toward a sealed metal door with four dark lightbulbs- tinted blue, green, yellow, and red- arranged in a square pattern.

"This leads to the central energy controller. You'll have to activate several colored terminals to enter here and restore power. The problem is, the keys for them aren't kept in one area and have gotten lost. You might want to start looking, or you'll be down here for a long time indeed. I'll come with you, I know the layout of this place."

With their new guide trotting next to them, Frisk felt more confident to some small degree, but was still worried about what they'd find.

"Say, Goner Kid… what are you doing in here, anyway?"

He just stared blankly ahead, not answering them. They coughed awkwardly and diverted their attention to the upcoming room. It had what appeared to be three operating tables lined up in a row. Each of them was coated in a thin layer of some white liquid that strongly emanated the sweet smell Frisk had noticed. More of the substance was dripping from the walls and even the ceiling. Upon accidentally touching some of it, the human noticed how sticky the stuff felt.

"Ugh, what is this?"

"You should ask Doctor Alphys the next time you see her. For now, come over here. I've found the first of the four keys, but as I lack arms I can't reach it."

Goner Kid was standing at a sink in the corner of the room, staring into the drain. Frisk approached and sure enough noticed a red glint in the hole. They stuck in a hand, grabbing the key and firmly grasping it.

"Well done, the red terminal is nearby- watch out!"

The two quickly backed away from the sink while a copious amount of the white substance flooded out of the faucet. Frisk watched in terror as whatever it was began to take some kind of physical shape, dragging itself from the sink.

"Some kind" was an appropriate description; the thing could barely seem to keep itself together. It dripped the substance comprising it all over the place and resembled a clustered ball with several agonized faces on its surface for a horrific melting effect. Goner Kid took another step backwards with a growl as the unnatural creature approached. Frisk's soul, sensing danger, emerged and tried to identify it, but couldn't recognize the thing. It let out an unintelligible screech that caused them to cover their ears with how loud it was. Not knowing what to do, Frisk slashed at it with the rusty dagger. The blade just phased through it with no effect.

"Human!" Goner Kid shouted. "It speaks through electronic waves, use your cell phone!"

They had to jump aside as the creature released a soundwave that sounded suspiciously like laughter from one of its many mouths. Frisk dug the phone out of their pocket and held it up to their ear. A high-pitched squeal of a voice could be heard through the receiver.

"We are Memoryhead… come join us, it's a real get together…"

Dodging another soundwave, Frisk gave it a firm stare.

"No. That's not happening."

Memoryhead paused in its movements. Through their phone, they heard it sigh in rejection.

"Fine. What a shame…"

With that, it slurped back up into the sink's faucet. Frisk turned to Goner Kid with a very pale face.

"What… what was that thing?!"

"It is called an Amalgamate, a collection of monsters trapped in one body together. And there are more of them here. Come, human, let's activate the red terminal."

He led them to an adjacent room that contained nothing but a device mounted to a wall with a faint red glow coming from somewhere inside it. Frisk stuck the key they'd found in, and the light intensified.

"Excellent, three to go. This way, human."