Enter Hotland
Hi guys! I'm sorry this took so long! My ancient computer died on me and I didn't get a new one until Christmas. Once I did get it though, I managed to finally finish this chapter. I hope you all like it!
...
"Ugh, I've always hated this puzzle." Chara groaned as Frisk felt her way through the darkened caverns of Waterfall, looking for the next switch to light the crystals.
"Hey, at least you can't run into things any more." Frisk told her, wincing as she bumped into yet another wall trying to feel for the switch. It had been a half hour since she and Chara had left Undyne's and she was eager to get to Hotland. Unfortunately, whoever designed this puzzle was some sort of sadist and she was slightly worried about being trapped in here forever.
Finally, after banging her hand on one more wall, she finally felt the switch and hit it. The crystals glowed, their dim light at least enough that she could finally see where she was going. "Finally. Now let's get out of here before the damn thing turns off again." She started down the path again, only to be forced to stop as she nearly collided with a tiny monster who was running down the path from the opposite direction.
They almost looked like a cross between a dog and a cat, with pure white fur on their body and a head of long black hair with one set of pointy cat ears atop their head and another set of floppy ears underneath. They wore a fuzzy blue sweater and were grinning widely, screeching to a stop when they saw Frisk. Their beady black eyes focused on her and they continued to smile in a friendly way. "hOI! i'm TEMMIE!" they greeted cheerfully in a high, squeaky, female sounding voice.
Frisk smiled. "Hi! It's nice to meet you. I'm..."
But once again she was cut off as Temmie squealed loudly, their whole body vibrating in happiness. "AwwAwa cute!" They jumped on Frisk and immediately started petting her, which would have been absolutely adorable if it hadn't been for one problem.
It turned out Frisk was highly allergic to Temmies.
Immediately when Temmie touched her, Frisk started coughing and sneezing. Her face and arms broke out in hives. Unfortunately Temmie didn't notice and kept happily petting her. Frisk tried to tell Temmie to stop, but couldn't get any words out through her coughing.
And then the switch went off, leaving her in total blackness. Chara was worried and kept asking if she was all right but could do nothing to help her being a ghost.
Frisk was pretty close to panicking and could barely breathe when the lights came back on and Temmie was lifted off of her. Still coughing, Frisk looked up and saw Aaron.
The muscular centaur gently set the Temmie down. "Hey, give the human some space, buddy. But you can check ME out!" He flexed his biceps with a wink.
"NO! muscles r...NOT CUTE NO!" Temmie screamed and took off running, causing Chara and Frisk to both sigh in relief.
Aaron turned to Frisk, looking concerned. "You okay?" Frisk managed to nod as her coughing slowed a little with the source of her allergic reaction gone, but he noticed the angry red hives covering her face and arms and winced sympathetically. He pulled out a thermos. "Here. Try this. Green Sea Tea. It should help."
Catching her breath, Frisk managed to gasp out a thanks and took the thermos, taking a drink. She sighed in relief as the cool liquid slid down her scratchy throat. Warmth pulsed through her and the itching faded away as the hives completely disappeared.
Damn, she loved magic.
She looked up at Aaron again as she handed him back the thermos. "Thanks. You saved my ass."
The centaur draped a friendly arm over her shoulders. "Hey, it's too nice of one not to save." he said playfully with a flirtatious wink before turning serious. "Plus, it's the least I could do since you helped Shy sing again. She's one of my best friends and it's so good to see her happy again." A sad expression was on his face and Frisk was worried, but didn't press.
Aaron then changed the subject. "Need some help getting out of here?"
Frisk nodded gratefully. "Yes, please."
Aaron guided her out of the maze with such ease that it took less than five minutes for them to get into the next room. Frisk sighed with relief, glad to be out of that pitch black area. "Thanks." she told him again.
"No problem. Where are you headed anyway?" he asked.
"Hotland. I need to talk to Dr. Alphys." she explained.
"I'll take you there. I need to talk to her too. If we're lucky, she won't ignore us both." Aaron suggested. He looked upset, but before Frisk could ask what was wrong, his cell phone went off. He excused himself and answered it. "Hey, Wosh. What's up?" His expression grew angry. "What?! Again? Don't worry, buddy, I'll be right there." He hung up.
"Is everything okay?" Frisk asked in concern.
"I've got to go rescue Woshua. Jerry chased him up a tree with his cheese puff dust and saliva covered fingers again, and, well, you know how Wosh is about germs. I've gotta teach Jerry a lesson, but here, I'll tell you how to get to Hotland." He quickly gave her directions, then started to go before pausing. "Brown Eyes, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure, what?"
"Can you ask Alphys to please return our damn calls?"
Frisk was confused, but nodded. Aaron thanked her quickly and hurried off.
Frisk turned to Chara. "What do you think that was about?"
"No idea."
...
With Aaron's directions, it took them only ten minutes to arrive at Alphys' lab. When they got there, Frisk grabbed her phone and dialed Papyrus to let him know she had arrived safely.
"HELLO, HUMAN!" Papyrus greeted cheerfully.
"Hey, Papyrus! I just wanted to let you know that I made it to Dr. Alphys' lab."
"THAT'S GREAT! AND I HAVE SOME AMAZING NEWS AS WELL!" Before Frisk could ask what the news was, Papyrus continued on. "I'M GOING TO BE THE NEWEST ROYAL TRAINER OF THE ROYAL GUARD! I'LL BE TEACHING ALL THE KIDS WHO WANT TO JOIN SOMEDAY AND THE NEW RECRUITS THE BASICS OF SELF-DEFENSE AND COMBAT!"
Frisk grinned widely. "That's awesome, Papyrus!"
Chara nodded. "You're going to do great!" she added, then remembered Papyrus wouldn't be able to hear her.
"THANK YOU, HUMAN! I'M SO EXCITED...OH! UNDYNE WANTS TO SAY HI!"
There was a brief silence and then Undyne's voice came on the line. "Hey, punk! Papyrus told me you made it to the lab. Say hi to Alphys for me! And tell me how she's doing! And tell me if she needs anything, and...wait! No! Don't ask her any of those things!"
"We'll just tell her you love her instead." Chara teased, catching on to her friend's ginormous crush.
Frisk giggled. "I'll tell her you said hi."
"...Thanks."
After a few minutes of conversation and letting Papyrus and Undyne know that she would call if she or Alphys needed anything, she said goodbye and hung up before knocking on the lab door. No one answered, but it immediately slid open, so she cautiously stepped inside, a blast of cool, refreshing air conditioning greeting her.
The lab was dark, a glowing TV screen the only light in the room. Frisk stepped forward to look at it and saw...herself. Alphys must have security cameras installed. Hopefully that meant the scientist would know she was here and turn on the lights.
She felt around, trying not to knock anything over. Thankfully, after a few steps, she heard the sound of a metal door sliding open and the lights switched on as a yellow lizard woman in a white lab coat, the exact one from the photo in Undyne's house, stepped out. She was rather short, only a little taller than Frisk, and had a shy, unsure look about her.
She suddenly noticed Frisk and jumped nervously. "Oh. My god. I didn't expect you to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and...um..." She shuffled nervously.
Frisk gave her a smile. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry I just barged in. I should have called ahead."
"It...It's okay. Undyne called to tell me you were coming...I just, uh, might have gotten distracted...on an experiment...and I lost track of time...Oh! I'm so rude...I forgot to introduce myself...H-H-Hiya! I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore's royal scientist! B-B-But, ahhh, I'm not one of the bad guys!"
"I know. Undyne told me." Frisk reassured her. "I want to help you guys."
Alphys averted her eyes slightly. "I...I know. Actually, ever since you left the ruins, I've, um, been observing your journey through my console. Your fights...your friendships...Everything!"
"Well, that's not creepy at all." Chara said sarcastically. Frisk secretly couldn't help but agree, though she said nothing.
"I was originally going to stop you, but watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them. Plus, when Undyne told me you wanted to help us, it REALLY made me root for you! S-so, ahh, now I want to help you! Using my knowledge, I can easily guide you through Hotland! I know a way right to Asgore's castle, no problem!"
Frisk grinned. "Thanks, Dr. Alphys!" She felt relief knowing she could speak to Asgore quickly and get home to Tina, maybe even before dinner. She might even be able to get Tina safely back here by tonight!
"You're welcome!" Alphys smiled nervously, then she flinched. "Well, actually, umm, there's just a tiny issue."
Frisk's heart sank.
"A long time ago, I made a robot called Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something."
Frisk nodded. "I saw one of his movies on TV. He's really awesome." She then frowned. "Is he okay? Do you need help? I don't know anything about robotics, but maybe I can..."
Alphys shook her head and looked down. "No, he's okay...sort of. The problem is...recently, I decided to make him more useful...You know, just some small practical adjustments. Like...um...well...anti-human combat features?"
Both Chara and Frisk looked worried. "Well, that's just wonderful. Just what we needed. Someone else trying to kill you." Chara muttered.
"Can't-Can't you just remove them?" Frisk asked shakily.
Alphys looked at her feet. "I-I tried. When I saw you coming, I immediately decided to remove those features. Unfortunately, I may have made a teensy mistake while doing so. And, um...Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood?" Alphys laughed nervously.
"Oh shit."
"But, umm, hopefully we won't run into him!" Alphys said brightly, clearly trying to stop Frisk from worrying.
"Which, based on most movies I've seen, means he'll come bursting in right now." Chara sighed. She looked around, fully expecting this to happen and preparing to help Frisk with yet another battle.
And she was right.
There was a thump outside, followed by rumbling. "Did you hear something?" Alphys asked shakily. Frisk nodded, just as scared as she was.
The rumbling frew louder and the floor shook, nearly knocking Frisk and Alphys off their feet. Then something crashed through the wall and everything turned to blackness.
...
"OHH YES! Welcome beauties!" the strong, rich voice of Mettaton called. A spotlight shined, revealing the boxy form of the Underground's most famous(and only) celebrity. He was light gray in color with a screen of many squares of golden lights and golden knobs underneath. He had tubes for arms with five fingered white gloves on the end and waved happily. "To today's quiz show!" Frisk blinked in utter confusion as confetti filled the air and the words "Game Show," lit up in pink and red lights over Mettaton's head.
Chara looked utterly baffled. "What the hell...?"
Mettaton continued on, seemingly oblivious to the weird look Frisk was giving him. Applause sounded in the background as Mettaton said his next lines. "Oh boy! I can already tell it's going to be a great show! Everyone give a big hand to our wonderful contestant!" Mettaton clapped for her cheerfully as more applause came from the soundtrack.
Frisk waved awkwardly and managed a smile as Mettaton turned to her. "Never played before, gorgeous?" he asked and she shook her head. "No problem! It's simple! There's only one rule. Answer correctly..." A drumroll sounded. "Or you die!"
"No pressure there." Frisk said dryly, though she felt like she was about to throw up. Chara stayed close to her, giving Mettaton a glare. Her friend's presence made Frisk feel a bit better, though she was still secretly scared out of her wits.
A bad laugh track played and Frisk could practically hear the wink in Mettaton's voice as he said, "What's a good show without high stakes, darling?"
...
Papyrus turned on Mettaton's game show as Undyne flopped next to him on the couch. "I can't believe you like this show." she groaned.
"METTATON'S SHOWS ARE VERY ENTERTAINING AND IMFORMATIVE! HE'S THE GREATEST CELEBRITY IN THE UNDERGROUND!" Papyrus defended.
Undyne sighed. "He's the only celebrity in the Underground."
"WELL..." Papyrus cut himself off as the camera zoomed in on a very familiar human, who was waving and smiling awkwardly at the viewers. "LOOK, UNDYNE! THE HUMAN'S ON TV!"
"Hey, that IS her! Hi punk!" Undyne waved even though the human couldn't see her.
Papyrus froze at Mettaton's next words. "Did he just say she'd die if she didn't answer his questions correctly?!" he asked in shock, his voice lowering in fear. He was briefly reminded of his nightmare, then tried to shake it off. This was Mettaton! He always had a flair for the dramatic, and he didn't actually sound serious there, more like was acting for the cameras. He had heard Mettaton's serious voice when the robot was doing the news, and this wasn't it. Still, the human looked scared, even though she was trying not to show it. "Maybe I should go get her..."
"Calm down, Papyrus. The punk's tough. She can handle that overgrown toaster. Plus...look! Alphys is helping her!" Undyne reassured him as she saw Alphys move to Mettaton's side and give a subtle hand signal to the human. "She'll be fine!"
Papyrus nodded a little. "Maybe you're right."
Still, he felt uneasy.
...
"Let's start with an easy one!" Mettaton told her, gesturing her to a podium. Frisk went without protest, not wanting to be killed for refusing. She noticed the podium had a computer screen. "What's the prize for answering correctly?"
Four answers popped up on the screen.
A. Money
B. Mercy
C. New Car
D. More Questions
Frisk hesitated for a second between Mercy and More Questions, but realized it was most likely the latter.
What quiz show had only one question, after all?
She quickly hit D.
"Correct!" Mettaton said approvingly. There was a pause as Mettaton typed in the next question. Frisk briefly thought about punching him and running away, but knew she was probably more likely to break her hand on his solid metal body than do him any damage, so she did nothing. Plus, it wasn't really his fault if he was malfunctioning.
Mettaton turned back to her. "Here's your terrific prize! What's the king's full name?"
A. Lord Fluffybuns
B. Fuzzy Pushover
C. Asgore Dreemurr
D. Dr. Friendship
Chara burst out laughing, half nervous, half genuine, at the weird names as Frisk hit C.
"Correct! What a terrific answer!" Mettaton told her. Frisk managed another smile and waited, knowing the questions were only going to get harder from here.
"Enough about you. Let's talk about me! What are robots made of?"
A. Hopes And Dreams
B. Metal and Magic
C. Snips and Snails
D. Sugar and Spice
Okay, maybe she had a few more easy ones. She quickly hit B.
"Too easy for you, huh? Here's another easy one for you!" He suddenly recited a long, complicated math problem with two trains and way too many decimals. Frisk started to panic slightly. Math was her worst subject. She was about to pick a random one and hope for the best when Dr. Alphys silently caught her attention and signed D with her hands. Frisk gave her a thankful look and hit D.
"Wonderful! I'm astounded, folks!" Mettaton cheered as Alphys gave her a secret thumbs up. Frisk almost felt guilty for cheating.
Almost.
"Don't "count" on your victory!" Mettaton told her and Frisk was briefly reminded of Sans. "How many flies are in this jar?"
A picture of a jar with many glowing dots showed up on her screen. Frisk knew she wouldn't have time to count them with the timer running out. She glanced to Alphys, hoping the dinosaur could bail her out again. And Alphys did, signalling an A to her. Frisk immediately put in that answer.
"Correct! You're so lucky today!" Mettaton said. "Let's play a memory game. What monster is this?" A picture of half a Froggits face showed up and Frisk clicked that answer, forgetting to check with Alphys first.
There was a smirk in Mettaton's voice as he yelled, "Wrong!" The podium Frisk was standing on began crackling and a jolt of electricity shot through Frisk, making her cry out in pain and Chara scream in horror.
...
"Human!" Papyrus cried out as he saw her get hit.
"It's okay, Papyrus. She's okay." Undyne reassured him, patting his arm. He sighed with relief when the human straightened, shaken but not badly hurt.
"Hey, that question wasn't fair!" Undyne then yelled at the screen as Metatton showed the correct answer; him in a Froggit T-shirt.
She started booing Mettaton over the screen and Papyrus managed to calm himself down. Mettaton hadn't killed her. And he wouldn't! Mettaton was very kind to his fans. He was probably just doing this as a stunt and got the human involved because she was new and very cool, and wanted her to star on TV with him!
Papyrus managed to push the lingering worry away and cheered for his friend as the show continued.
...
"You okay, Frisk?" Chara asked worriedly.
Frisk nodded, wiggling her arms to ease the slight numbness and tingling from the electricity. "I'm fine. Thank god he didn't turn that up any higher..." She turned her attention to Mettaton as he asked the next question.
"Now let's see if you can get this one! Would you smooch a ghost?"
Alphys made a rather adorable annoyed face and didn't sign anything as every letter had the same answer.
"She'd rather smooch a skeleton." Chara joked. Frisk ignored her and clicked on the only answer available, "Heck, yeah!"
"Great answer! I love it!" Mettaton cheered. "Here's a simple one. How many letters are in the name Mettatonnnnnnnnnnnnn..."
The n's continued, surrounding the screen. Chara rolled her eyes. Frisk looked to Alphys once again, who immediately signed the correct answer to her. Frisk put in "C."
"Of course that was easy for you! Time to break out the big guns! In the dating simulation video game, Mew Mew Kissy Cutie" what is Mew Mew's favorite food?"
Frisk, never having played one of those games in her life, had no clue what the answer was, but before she could even look to Alphys for help, Alphys got excited and started waving her arms. "Oh! Oh! I know this one! It's snail ice cream! In the fourth chapter, everyone goes to the beach and she buys ice cream for all her friends! But it's snail flavor and she's the only one who wants it! It's one of my favorite parts of the game because it's a very powerful...message about friendship and..." She then turned bright red as she realized her mistake and lowered her arm. Frisk could see beads of sweat forming.
"Uh oh, Alphys. You blew it." Chara sighed.
"Alphys, Alphys, Alphys. You aren't HELPING the contestant, are you?" Mettaton asked, wagging his finger. Frisk tensed, worried that he'd turn on Alphys. But instead he continued, his voice cheerful with a hint of the mischievous teasing Frisk often heard from Chara. "Oooh, you should have told me! I'll ask a question you'll be sure to know the answer to! Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?"
Frisk could hear the teasing grin in his voice, so much like the one Chara wore when she teased Frisk about her crush on Papyrus. Poor Alphys' face was as red as her own had been.
Frisk glanced at the answers.
A. Undyne
B. Asgore
C. The human
D. Don't know
By how red Alphys' face was, Frisk knew she had a crush, so D was out, plus she had seen Alphys' blush in the picture Undyne had of the two of them on her wall, plus Undyne had talked about Alphys with such adoration...
She thought about choosing D anyway to avoid embarrassing Alphys in front of Mettaton, but she didn't want to get zapped again, plus it was just her, Alphys, and Mettaton here. Mettaton obviously already knew, and of course she wasn't going to make fun of Alphys or anything. Hell, she thought they were really freaking cute together.
She gave Alphys an apologetic look and hit A.
Alphys buried her bright red face in her hands as Mettaton chuckled. "See, Alphys? I told you it was obvious. Even the human figured it out. Yes, she scrawls her name in the margins of her notes...She names programming variables after her...She even writes stories of the two of them together, sharing a domestic life. Probability of crush, one hundred and one percent. Margin of error, one percent." Mettaton didn't have a face, but if he did, Frisk knew he would have a shit eating grin on it.
"Wow, Chara, he's as bad as you." Frisk thought to Chara, who gave her the finger.
The robot then then turned his attention back to Frisk. "Well, well, well. With Dr. Alphys helping you...the show has no dramatic tension. We can't go on like this! But. But! This was just the pilot episode!"
"Wait. This was on actual TV?!" Frisk asked, her eyes wide with horror.
"Of course, gorgeous! I can't be a star without an audience!"
Now it was Frisk's turn to bury her face in her hands. "So I just told the whole Underground...I'm sorry, Alphys..."
Mettaton patted the shocked human's back. "Next up...more drama! More romance! More bloodshed! Until next time, darlings!" He then pulled his hand back, withdrew his limbs into his body, and blasted off.
...
"Yes!" Undyne cheered at the news of who Alphys' crush actually was. She yanked Papyrus off his seat and started dancing around the living room with him. "She LIKES me!"
"i TOLD YOU SHE DID!" Papyrus told her with a huge smile. "NOW YOU JUST NEED TO ASK HER OUT!"
"Yeah, but it needs to be absolutely awesome! I gotta think of something great!"
"I KNOW! YOU COULD PLAN A SURPRISE ROMANTIC PICNIC FOR HER IN WATERFALL!" Papyrus suggested.
"That's a great idea! But what excuse do I use to get her to go there?"
"JUST CALL HER UP AND SAY IN A HOT VOICE, "ALPHYS, I NEED YOUR HELP WITH A," He winked and it was somehow audible. "...PUZZLE."
Undyne turned bright red. "Oh my gosh, no, Papyrus!"
"THEN LET ME CALL HER UP! I'LL DO THE HOT VOICE!" he teased, sockets sparkling with mischief.
"That's even worse! How the hell does your brother still believe you're innocent?!" Undyne groaned, throwing up her hands. "All right, let's be serious."
"WHAT IF YOU TRIED WRITING HER A LOVE LETTER?" Papyrus suggested.
Undyne thought it over. "That's...not a bad idea! Thanks, Papyrus!" Excited, she twirled him around and then gave him a flattery suplex.
Into the ceiling, where his skull went clean through it. Papyrus wriggled, trying to get himself free. Unfortunately, Undyne didn't notice as as she ran out to get some paper.
Sans wandered in from the kitchen and looked up to see Papyrus dangling from the ceiling. "Hey, bro. What's up? Besides you, I mean."
"SANS!"
...
"Well, that was certainly...something." Alphys said as Mettaton disappeared through the ceiling.
"Alphys, I'm really sorry. I didn't know that was televised." Frisk apologized again.
Alphys blushed again. "It...It's okay...It was Mettaton's fault...And Undyne doesn't like his show, so she'll never see it...and if she did...I can just hide...for a year..."
"Hey...even if she did, you don't have to. I've talked to Undyne and I'm almost one hundred percent sure she has a huge crush on you too. She talked a lot about you when we hung out. She wouldn't shut up about how cool and smart you are." Frisk said with a grin.
Alphys squeaked and blushed even deeper, covering her face. "She...She really said that?"
Frisk nodded with a smile. "She did. Heck, right before I came in here, she was pretty much falling all over herself telling me to tell you she says hi. Like Mettaton just said, probability of crush, one hundred and one percent." she teased gently. "I bet if you asked her out, she'd say yes."
"N...N...No, I can't do that!" Alphys stammered. "She's WAY out of my league and I'm pretty sure she said all those things because she was just being nice and..."
"Or she's in loooove with you." Chara teased even though Alphys couldn't hear her.
"Hey, don't sell yourself short! You're really cool! You saved my butt in that game show." Frisk told her. Alphys averted her eyes with a guilty expression, which Frisk interpreted as her feeling guilty about having created the anti-human combat features in the first place and making the mistake when trying to remove them. She tried to cheer Alphys up. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll be able to fix him." She then laughed. "Look at it this way. You did better than I would have. If I tried to build a robot, I'd probably blow everything up." She was glad when this got a tiny smile from Alphys.
"T-Thanks." Alphys said shyly. "I-I'll do my best to fix this and get you to the Capitol...Here, let me give you my p-phone number. Th-Then, maybe if you need help, I could..." She then cut herself off as Frisk pulled out her cell phone so that they could exchange numbers. "Wh-Where'd you get that phone?! It's ANCIENT! It doesn't even have texting." She took the phone out of Frisk's hand before the teenager could even come up with a retort. "Here. I'll upgrade it for you." She then disappeared into another room while Frisk was opening her mouth to speak.
"Um, thank you...you didn't have to..." Frisk said to an empty room. She then turned to Chara with a flabbergasted expression.
The ghost girl just laughed and shrugged. "Looks like you're getting your phone upgraded whether you want it or not."
Only a few minutes later, Alphys emerged with a happy but still nervous smile, holding a beautiful silver smartphone, a far cry from the flip top phone with an antenna Toriel had given her. Frisk's heart ached. Even though she knew the new phone was technically better, she missed the old phone. It had been the first gift she had ever gotten from a parental figure, or from anyone other than Tina in fact.
But Alphys was trying to be so nice, and had done such a kind thing for her that she didn't want to sound ungrateful. She smiled and thanked Alphys as the dinosaur handed her the phone.
"You're welcome. I think you'll really like it. It can do texting, it's got a direct link to the Dimensional boxes so you can get your items whenever you need them, it's got a key chain...I even signed you up for the Underground's number one social network! Now we're officially friends!" Alphys giggled nervously.
"That's awesome. Thank you so much for doing this for me." Frisk reassured her. "How much do I owe you?"
Alphys waved her hands dismissively. "N-Nothing! It's free of charge for helping us out."
"You didn't have to..." Frisk started, but Alphys cut her off.
"D-Don't worry. It's the least I can do after w-what happened with Mettaton, plus we're friends, and, um..." Alphys stood there awkwardly. "I..um...I got to go to the bathroom. Help yourself to anything in the fridge...there's noodles and stuff..." Alphys then hurried off.
"Something tells me she doesn't get out much." Chara sighed as Alphys bolted into the bathroom.
"She's nice though. I can see why Undyne likes her so much." Frisk thought to her as she looked around the lab. She waited several minutes but Alphys didn't come out of the bathroom. She nicked a pack of noodles from the fridge, then went to the bathroom and tapped on the door. "Alphys, I'm going to head off. I don't want to keep my sister waiting." she called.
"That's fine. Just, um, call me if you need anything!" Alphys called back.
Frisk thanked her again, then remembered something. "Oh, Aaron, this centaur guy, I think he lives in Waterfall or something, he asked me to ask you to return their calls. I don't know what that means, but..." There was a sharp intake of breath, then a stifled sob from behind the door. Frisk cut herself off and frowned in concern. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Y-Yeah...I, um, I'm fine! Everything's okay!" Alphys's voice was high pitched and overly cheerful, which made Frisk worry more. "Don't worry! I'll, um, I'll call them when I can...Just, uh, focus on getting back to your sister. I'll take care of everything, okay?"
"Are you sure you're okay? You sound really upset. Do you want me to call Undyne?"
"NO! I mean, no, I got this! There's no need to call Undyne! I'm totally fine!" Alphys told her, though her voice was even more nervous.
Frisk knew from her experiences with Chara that pushing would just make Alphys more upset. She reluctantly let it go. "...All right. Call me if you need anything, okay?"
"O-Okay."
Frisk turned and headed out the back door of the lab, still worried and thoughtful, though she made sure to keep herself focused enough to watch out for Mettaton. Thankfully, she saw nothing.
"I think Alphys might be hiding something." Chara told her, just as concerned as Frisk.
"I know, but until she talks to me, I can't really do anything." Frisk replied. "Alphys knows she can call me if she needs anything, and I'll do all I can to help her then, but right now, I need to find a way to get past Mettaton, and convince your father I'm worth more alive than dead so I can get back to the surface and bring Tina back here. Everything else I'll figure out later."
Chara nodded. "All right. Let's get you through Hotland."
Frisk smiled a little as she followed the pathway into the next room, missing the guilty look on Chara's face in her own eagerness to get home. No matter what lay ahead, or what Mettaton came up with, she swore she would make it back to Tina.
The thought filled her with determination.
...
Little Tina stood on a step stool in front of the stove, making macaroni and cheese for lunch, just the way Frisk taught her. Her mommy and daddy had left yet again, and part of her was relieved they were gone, because so were the scary people they were friends with.
The macaroni had clumped up into a big mushy block and was burned around the edges, not nice and creamy like it was when Frisk made it for her, but she didn't care. She scooped some out onto two plates and turned off the stove, careful not to burn herself. Frisk had taught her to always be careful around hot things.
She set one plate down at the spot Frisk always sat, just in case her big sister came walking in the door, and sat down across from it with her own plate. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the empty seat.
It had been almost a week since she'd seen Frisk. Her mommy and daddy didn't even seem to care that her big sister was gone. Frisk might be in trouble, but they wouldn't do anything, or listen to Tina when she said that something was very wrong.
Tina wiped her tears away. Frisk wasn't here, but she would want her to be strong, and so Tina would be for her sister. And if Mommy and Daddy wouldn't listen...she would just have to handle it herself.
School was going to start again tomorrow morning. If Frisk didn't return by then, she would go to her teacher and ask her for help, and if she didn't get it, she would go find Frisk herself. This couldn't wait any more. Frisk might be hurt, or trapped somewhere, or lost, or...
She stopped the scary thoughts before they could get too bad. Frisk was alive. She knew it! And it was up to her to find her.
Tina sat tall in her seat, a determined expression on her face.
She would save Frisk. No matter what!
All her life, her sister had protected and taken care of her. Now it was her turn to do the same.
The thought filled her with Bravery.
...
After Sans had freed his brother from the ceiling and headed off, saying something about going to Grillby's and promising to bring Papyrus back one of the vanilla milkshakes he loved, Papyrus paced around the house, trying to work up the courage to ask Undyne what he needed to. He knew it would upset her, but it had to be done.
He just hoped she'd give him a straight answer.
He took a deep breath as he stepped into the kitchen and approached Undyne, who was sitting at the table, scribbling on a notepad. Crumpled balls of paper filled the kitchen's trash can and some more were scattered under the fish woman's feet. He guessed the love letter writing wasn't going so well, and Undyne proved him right as she read her current letter, groaned in frustration, and crumpled it up before starting over again.
"DON'T WORRY, UNDYNE! SHE'LL LIKE WHATEVER LETTER YOU GIVE HER." Papyrus told her, making her jump.
Undyne sighed. "I just want it to be perfect."
"IT WILL BE! BECAUSE IT'S WRITTEN BY YOU, AND YOU LOVE HER! I KNOW SHE'LL SEE THAT!" Papyrus encouraged.
Undyne relaxed a little and smiled. "Thanks, Papyrus."
"ANYTIME, UNDYNE!"
She continued writing and Papyrus waited, shuffling his feet a little. She noticed his unusually nervous mannerisms and turned to look at him. "You okay, punk? You're acting like you have ants in your pants."
"I...um...no. Can I ask you something?" he asked softly.
She abandoned her letter writing and got up, her expression worried. "Of course. What's wrong?"
He took another deep breath, trying to keep his hands from trembling, dreading the answer that might come, but at the same time, desperately needing to know. He had to protect his friend. He had to make sure that what Flowey had told him wouldn't come to pass. Steeling himself, he finally spoke.
"What happened to the other fallen humans?"