"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Past speech and Gman"
"Other"
"Text/misc"
Thinking quickly, the marine rolls out of the alien's path right as it speeds on by him, however his roll is interrupted by the Xenian nicking his left knee as it came by. His shield sparks one last time as he falls into the sewage water. Groaning, Adrian hefts himself up as the Bullsquid crashes into a wall of trash, causing debris to fall all around it. The creature turns around as the marine finally gets himself up. A glance to his right shows his M4 far from him and out of his reach.
His handgun on the other hand is still in its holster.
The Xenian creature emits a crackling growl as it raises its head upwards and charges again. This time, Adrian doesn't move, instead his hand moves as fast as lightning, unholstering his sidearm and bringing up to the Bullsquid heading his way.
A loud bang echoes through the Dump as a .357 magnum round exits the barrel of the Desert Eagle and slams into the creatures head. A spurt of green blood comes out of the rather small wound right above its eye, but other then that, the creature continues forward without pause. Another gunshot rings out and again, the creature is hit and again it continues its sprint. After the third shot, the creature is already on the lone marine, causing him to sidestep the aliens.
The Bullsquid learned that simply rushing it's target would do it no good, so instead of charging straight pass it as it did last time, the creature swings its tail as it goes by, knocking Adrian down onto the sewage water again. A shot of plasma is shot out from Sparky as he falls but it goes wide, hitting a piece of trash instead.
The thing then pulls off a feat unbecoming of it's size as it pushes against its forward momentum and jumps in the air, spinning itself back to the down Corporal mid flight.
Adrian groans as he tries to pick himself back up. A sudden spike of pain goes through his chest as he pulls himself up out of the sewage once again. His PCV now sports a large gash from the Bullsquid's tail. Luckily it didn't go all the way through, but without his PCV's shield, the pain was much worse then it would have been otherwise. A shot of plasma is shot out from his Shockroach companion as he aims his arm at the Xenian creature.
The first few shots miss, while the third and fourth hit the creature head on. Harden skin burns away as the plasma burns on through and electricity courses through its body. It visibly flinches from the pain, but before the fifth shot can land, the creature opens its mouth as a bright green blob of acid comes spewing out it and towards Adrian's direction.
The marine dodges the main projectile, but sprinkles of acid does get on his uniform, burning even more holes in his already burned and destroyed attire.
Before Adrian can react, the thing comes charging at him again. As the creature makes it halfway to the marine, it pounces in the air and comes sailing at him, leaving no time to dodge. It collides with him, feet first, and the Corporal falls to the sewage soaked ground as it's mass pushes him downwards. His handgun falls out of his grips and soars out of view.
Water splashes around him as he makes contact with the ground. Before he can try to move, a large clawed leg much like that from that one famous dinosaur he learned about as a kid pins him down. More and more weight is put on his chest as the creature leans down at him, it tentacles almost touching his respirator. Acid starts to build up in its mouth as it prepares to unleash it on it's prey.
Chara watches from the side lines as the thing pounces on Adrian, pinning him to the ground. Already she can tell that the creature is getting ready to end the marines life as Sparky and Spitball try to conjure up their plasma and acid attacks, but stop as they realize they might harm Shephard as well as the creature. A glint of metal not far from her gets her attention. Looking over, she can see Adrian's pistol lying on a bed of trash. Thinking on her feet, she runs to the weapons and picks it up. She aims it at the creature and pulls the trigger.
Nothing happens.
Why it doesn't fire, Chara doesn't know, but as she sees the creature getting ready to end her partners life, she decided to just hurl the weapon instead.
The creature sees the handgun materialize out of thin air as it leaves Chara's grip and flies through the air. The brief second of hesitation of the Bullsquid gives Adrian the opening that he needs.
Pulling out his combat knife, the marine jams it into the creature's eye, causing it to let out a horrible shriek as it gets off Adrian and stumbles back with it's tentacles flailing wildly around its mouth as acid leaks out.
Adrian, with the reflexes and hand coordination that would make an expert baseball player blush, grabs his handgun by the barrel as it comes flying over to him. Still laying in the sewage, the marine spins the weapon around so he can grab the grip. The marine takes aim with his handgun as he turns on the laser sight, and without any hesitation, fires the weapons second to last round at the injured Bullsquid.
The bullet sails through the small space separating the two almost instantly, and punches right through one of the red tentacles surrounding the creatures mouth, cutting it off completely and keeps on going as it enters the mouth of the creature, taking a few teeth with it. The bullet makes contact with the interior of the mouth, destroying everything it comes in contact with as it makes it way through the soft flesh and through its skull and brain before stopping as it hits the hardern skin that stopped the last few rounds of .357s. The creature stops it's struggles not a second later as all higher brain functions cease, causing it to ungracefully flop to the ground as blood and acid leaks out from its mouth.
No one makes a sound as the creature continues to leak it's bodily fluids into the water, turning it a light green.
Chara feels a sudden rush of euphoria as Adrian's EXP rises from the death of the creature. She quickly shakes the feeling away, it focuses on the marine getting himself off the ground.
"Adrian?"
The girl gets no response as the marine gets himself up and begins making his way to the dead alien in front of him. He brings up his weapon once again and aims at the creature head. A loud bang echoes through the Dump once again as the marine unleashes his last shot onto the creature. Unlike last time, the bullet pierces the skin, and blows a huge chunk of flesh, bone, and brain all over the place.
A click comes from the handgun as Adrian pulls on the trigger again, causing him to lower his weapon. Calmly, he leans down and plucks the knife out of the dead aliens eye. He pauses for a second as he stares at the green blood on the knife, then back to the Bullsquid. Before Chara can say anything, he jams the knife into the eye again without uttering a sound. He repeats the process one more time before getting up and kicking the Bullsquid.
"Adrian."
No response.
"That was one of the aliens, wasn't it?"
Again, no response comes from the marine. Sparky and Spitball both curl around his biceps as he continues to stare at the corpse, not uttering a word. Chara gives him some space, to let him cool down. To regain his bearings. Unknown to her however, the marines mind was completely blank, with the occasional flash of Black Mesa coming up and disappearing as quickly as they appeared.
Chara makes a last minute decision to approach him, forgoing her previous commitment of letting him cool down. Adrian, so caught up in the moment doesn't notice the ghost coming up to him. It's not until a pale hand makes it way to his, cutting off his thoughts as their hands interlock. A comforting squeeze is given, calming the soldiers nerves again. No words were spoken between the two as Adrian regains his bearings.
"That was a Bullsquid."
Chara doesn't respond. Instead she waits patiently for him to continue.
"Their native to Xen. When the aliens first came, it was by accident. A scientist by the name of Gordon Freeman activated a… portal I think?"
"We've just been informed that the sample is ready Gordon. It should be coming up to you at any moment. Look to the delivery system for your specimen." A memory calls out from Chara's mind.
"These guys," the marine gestures to the corpse with his empty gun, "were one of the creatures that came. Maybe more came with the invasion force afterwards, I'm not sure..." A sigh escapes his lips, muffled by his respirator. Another squeeze courtesy of Chara calms his nerves, allowing him to think straight again.
"How are they here Chara? Last time I saw something like them, it was in Black Mesa, in New Mexico. So how is this thing here, in the Underground, halfway across the entire damn country? I can only think of two reasons, either it came here with me, meaning I'm responsible for this, or…"
"Or what Adrian?"
The marine turns to the ghost besides him, tears visible behind his lenses. After a moment of silence, he whispers to her. "The aliens won."
Gaining their bearings after the attack wasn't easy, especially for Adrian. However Chara wasn't faring much better. While she has no sympathy for humankind, the fact that humanity could actually be gone is a thought that fills her with unease. Long ago, she might have been excited with the prospect. Given time, monsterkind could find a way to break the barrier without worrying for humanities reaction. But now she's not sure what to feel about the possibility.
Sliding in a new magazine to his handgun, Adrian tries too tries to reflect on this sudden revelation concerning the Bullsquid. The possibility of humanity being extinct could be a real possibility, however the marine can't be a hundred percent sure. There is the possibility that it decided to put it here just to mess with him. Or maybe humanity could still be around and the Bullsquid was just one that escaped the nuclear blast and was able to make its way to the Underground.
Unlikely he thought to himself. The odds of the alien making its way across the country and not getting killed are close to zero. Then it would have to fall into the Underground as well. Again, unlikely.
The pair decided to take the left path, leaving both the dead alien and monster helmet behind them. The walk was quiet, as the two fell into a comfortable silence as they both process the implication aliens being in the Underground. It doesn't last for long as Chara speaks up.
"Adrian?"
The marine turns to her the ghost who, he just notices, is still holding his hand, giving him a weird feeling that he tries to ignore.
"When the alien was on you, I noticed that your gun was close by."
Adrian's eyes widen behind his respirator. "That was you who threw it right? I almost forgot to thank you, it wasn't for you I be a pile of goo right now." A small chuckle escapes his lips, however the ghost just rolls her eyes and continues on nonetheless.
"Yeah, you're welcome. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. When I picked up the gun, I tried to fire it, but it wouldn't fire, but when you got it, it did fire. So do you know what that was about?"
The marine thinks for a second before coming up with an answer. "I would say that you had the safety on, a common mistake for a rookie," the girl glares at him as he continues. "But that obviously not it since I could fire it myself without having to touch the safety. It didn't jam either, so I'm not a hundred percent sure."
"Actually, I might have an answer, but I'm not sure if it is right, but it's a thought. During the first few Resets," the phantom hesitates for a second, "well… Genocides, I wasn't able to interact with anything around me. That included Frisk. However, as more and more… Genocides went by, I was able to interact with my surroundings a little bit more, but I couldn't actually manipulate anything in a meaningful way. For example," she takes her hand away from Adrian's and snatches the tool wrench that was hanging off of his waist.
"I was never able to actually hold anything before you came along. Nor could I feel somebody when I touched them." A small blush appears on her face as the implications of what she just said come to mind, but she ignores it and goes on. "And the only real difference between you and Frisk, not implying you're anything like her, is the amount of LV you have. Frisk, never reached LV 26. You on the other hand, have. So I'm thinking that your LV is able to allow me to influence more of my surroundings."
While the idea didn't go over Adrian's head completely, he still understood most of it, even if it made no logical sense, but to Chara it did. She's surprised this line of thought never came to her before hand, it just made so much sense that that she looks back at the Resets, despite the emotional baggage that came with doing so. She's never been able to "Erase" the world until Frisk got to LV 20, and that was only when she beat Sans and the king. Maybe she could have been able to interact with Frisk and everything else before she would kill her and she, Frisk, could Reset.
"I'm guessing there's a catch to this however," the HECU marine says as he vaults over a large pile of trash.
"I was getting there but yes. I don't think I can actively help you, in any meaningful way at least." The ghost straps the wrench back onto the marine's waist. "Maybe we can test it?"
The marine shakes his head. "Maybe when we get somewhere safe, besides, I have a limited amount of ammo, can't risk wasting it."
Chara almost commented on the fact that he wasted a perfectly good bullet on the already dead creature but holds her tongue. It was most likely stress at the time, so she can't really blame him. She probably would have done the same had she found herself in a similar situation.
The ghost is suddenly stopped as her companion puts an arm in front of her, blocking her path forward. Actually, Adrian is probably the only thing that can stop her from moving now that she thinks about it. The ghost raises an eyebrow at the soldier, questioning him. He says nothing in return as he simply points to a thin rope in hanging from the ceiling. At least, she thinks it's a rope, hard to tell with how dark it is. Without uttering a sound, the marine grabs a piece of trash, an old cat food can, and chucks it at the rope. The sound of something similar to elastic being pulled echoes through the Dump as the "rope" suddenly retracts with the can stuck to it. Following the "rope" upwards as it retracts, she suddenly sees why Adrian stopped.
The "rope" is not a rope at all, but in fact some sort of tongue that leads into the mouth of some cancerous growth hanging from the ceiling. Four sharp teeth hang from four separate mandibles, which in turn, surround an inner mouth. The mandibles flex as the creature pulls its tongue upwards. As the piece of trash comes close enough, the inner mouth extends outward and swallows the can whole. However a second later the thing spits the thing back out, causing it to splash back into the sewage water.
The marine sighs. "That's a Barnacle." Ushering Sparky onto his arm, Adrian points the Shockroach at the alien. Two successive shots of plasma are shot forth and strike the creature, causing it to spasm as its tongue retracts halfway up, and its inner mouth hangs loosely in the air.
"I don't think that'll be the last of them," Adrian says grimly as the idea of humanity being extinct is becoming more and more plausible.
The two continue onwards, passing by more and more mounds of trash. As they pass by them, Adrian starts to notice that a lot of the human trash looks rather old. That itself isn't odd, but the brands are rather modern. Even the style of some of the trash is quite familiar to the marine. Lays chips, Hershey's chocolate, Kellogs cereal, Aperture Science shower curtains, and even the newest Iphones, all at such an advanced age. Stopping and picking up one of the many Iphones, the casing is all but destroyed, and large amounts of garbage stick to both the front and back. Looking over again after cleaning some of the grime off shows that it's a newer model. However it still looks rusted and aged.
Before Adrian can think of the possible implications of this discovery, an all to familiar noise interrupts the silence.
"That another alien?" The phantom asks, pointing further down the path. Looking over shows a pack of yellow-blue striped Houndeyes staring at the marine with their compound eyes. The first one stands on its back leg as it stands tall, trying to intimidate the soldier. The creatures start closing in on him as they make their signature call, a mixture of a squeak and a bark.
A bolt of plasma slams into the alpha, burning it's compound eye and causing it to squeal in agony as electricity courses through its body. A second shot slams into the alpha, causing it's blood to boil, leading to the creature exploding an a viresera of flesh and gibs. A second Houndeye dies right after as Adrian points Sparky at another one of the creatures.
Seeing two of their packmates die almost instantly causes panic to spread among them as they all suddenly turn and try to retreat. This proves futile as a ball of acid lands among them and explodes outwards like an organic grenade. Acid covers them as they fall to the ground and wither in pain. A bolt of plasma from Sparky puts one out of its misery, while another dies as Adrian walks up to one and slams the end of his wrench onto it, hard. The last one tries to limp away, but only gets so far before a knife enters it back, destroying its spine. The creature falls dead.
Chara stares on as Adrian slaughters the alien dogs, feeling his EXP rise with each kill. She ignores the feeling, as she's all to use to it by now thanks to Frisk. Chara feels no remorse for the creatures as Adrian dispatches the last one. She's not above the idea of killing after all. That would be hypocritical. As long as it isn't Genocide, she's find with it.
Adrian wipes away the green blood from his knife on his thigh, and holsters the weapon away again. He turns to the ghost afterwards.
"Sorry you had to see that."
The girl raises her eyebrow. "What, you think I'm scared of a little blood?"
"No, but still."
The ghost shrugs her shoulder again. "Don't worry about it, I ain't against the idea of killing a few alien pests. Besides," the ghost walks past the marine "you look good in green."
The marine just shakes his head as he follows his companion further down the garbage layed path. Not even bothering to walk over the corpse of the dead aliens.
The further the two continue down the path, the more the composition of the trash around them changes. Monster trash is starting to become more perverlant as they continue on, with human waste becoming more and more scarce. Another detail the pair notice is that the aliens are becoming more and more rare. They've seen a few Houndeyes scouring through the trash, trying to find food, but as soon as Adrian gets in line of sight they bolt out of the way before he can even dispatch them. The Barnacles too, are becoming rarer to find as well. They've only encountered one after the fight with the Houndeye pack. Adrian quickly dispatched it. As the creature died, it vomited out an excessive amount of dust and a piece of clothing. A torn sleeve, probably from a monster if Chara's guess is right.
The pair are stopped again as they hear the sound of trash falling off of one of the many mounds surrounding them. Before the two can comment on it, an alien jumps in front of them, giving a perfect view of what it is.
At first glance, it looks like a miniature Houndeye only with a few key differences. For starters, the alien is a hot red color instead of the yellow and blue striped coloration that is normal for one of its species. Another oddity is the fact that the creature is somewhat glowing, with it being most noticeable with the yellow strip surrounding its eye.
The miniature Houndeye rushes at the marine, ignoring the ghost for obvious reasons. Before the creature can get too close however, a bolt of plasma slams into it. The plasma makes contact, and instantly the creature explodes. Not into a shower of guts or anything similar, but just explodes into a ball of fire.
"What the hell?"
A bunch of other creatures identical to the explosive Houndeye start making their way to the marine, pouring in from cavities in the walls of trash. The marine fires another bolt of plasma into the group, taking three down as the explosive force sets its companions off as well. Again Sparky fires a bolt of plasma and again, a bunch are killed. But more are coming in from the walls.
"That doesn't seem good." The ghost says to herself.
Seeing that taking them out one by one would be a fools errands, the marine has Spitball wiggle his way onto his arms and aims the creature at the center of the mob of explosive aliens. A ball of acid is shot forth from the baby shocktrooper, landing in the middle of the mob as it bounces a few times. A second later the ball explodes outwards, covering some in the surrounding area in a green acid. Those covered explode almost immediately explode, causing a chain reaction to go through the mob as the explosive force from the aliens detonating causes their neighbors to combust as well. Not long after the acid grenade exploded, all of the miniature Houndeyes were dead.
"So… What were those things?" The ghost asks.
"I don't know exactly. I can't remember seeing them from Black Mesa. I recall seeing the Houndeyes from earlier, as well as a big one during a trip to Xen, but never these guys." A gesture to where the creatures once were. "Be on the lookout for them will you? I would rather not be surprised by these little fuckers."
The trash that surrounds the path is now exclusively of monster origin, leading to the pair to conclude that they are getting closer to some type of exit. A few aliens were spotted, but Sparky is starting to tire out from all of the shooting, and he rather not waste one acid grenade on scattered Houndeyes. The same goes with ammunition. He could try to kill some of them with a knife but again, most of them flee at the slightest inconvenience, making that option null and void.
Walking by one of the barnacle tongues, and around a bend in the clearing, the pair finally make it to the end of the Dump. The walls of trash have become hills that slope down as they get closer and closer to the enclave that will lead to their freedom. Walking by a destroyed dummy, Adrian can only wonder what will happen to the aliens down here, the ones he didn't kill at least. He can't clear them out on his own. He wants to, he really wants to see every single one of them dead, but he can't, not with so little ammo and food for his alien companions. Besides, everytime he looks at one, he's reminded of the surface, of what could be going on above the mountain and away from monsterkind.
How much time has passed, Adrian wondered. The age of the human trash, and the aliens aren't painting an answer that he would like.
"Chara?"
The ghost turns to him, an eyebrow raised. "Yes Adrian?"
"What year is-"
Before he can finish, a hill of trash explodes outward much like with his encounter with the Bullsquid. Before he can react, a shockwave sends him flying backwards. With his ears still ringing, the marine gets himself up and looks up to see a Houndeye larger than him, and with bone like armor protecting parts of its body. The creature runs towards him, and Adrian rolls under the attack and by the downwards facing mouth, the marine appears on the other side of the creature. With Sparky too tired to fire, the soldier brings up his sidearm, turns on the red laser sight, and fires at the its back leg joint.
The magnum round tears through the unprotected flesh, tearing bone and rendering ligaments. With it's back leg no longer usable, the creature falls down, still alive but severely injured. Chara watches as the marine backs away from the creature, letting it suffer and die from the loss of blood that now stains the water around it. A second shockwave passes Chara, leaving her unharmed, and Adrian too far away to be affected.
"Should we kill it?"
The marine shakes his head. "No, more effort than it's worth, especially since it can still send out those sonic attacks."
The ghost nods, and follows the Corporal as they head to the exit, leaving the alien behind as it cries in agony.
The pair make it to the exit, a cave illuminated by the many glowing echos flowers and shining minerals on the cave walls and ceiling. A small pond meets them on the other side, with three paths behind it, and another to the right of it. The same ghost monster from before can be seen talking to another one of its kind further up the middle path. A quick glance to Chara shows that the correct path is the one to the far right of the pond.
Further down the path is the box from Snowdin with an archway next to it. Looking into the box reveals that all of the contents from before are in fact still there in the exact way Adrian left them. If he wasn't in an underground cave filled with sentient monsters and aliens from another dimension, while also being followed by a ghost girl, he would have question how something like the box is possible.
"I recommend that you get stocked up on food again. You have plenty of Gold to spare. Just go down this path and you'll find Gerson, a vendor."
The marine takes the ghost's advice. A large cave filled to the brim with sparkling rocks and minerals greet the pair as they pass the archway.
"Woah there buddy, what are you doing down here? Lookin for something"
Turning to the source of the voice, Adrian finds himself looking at a humanoid turtle monster in archaeologist attire. A large magnifying glass is held in one hand, while a long pointed beard falls from his chin. His open smile shows crooked yellow teeth. A single eye looks over Shephard, while the other remains closed. Worts can be seen below his tan pith hat.
"Hello sir, I was wondering if you had any food I could buy off you?" The marine asks in a polite tone, not wanting to offend or scare the monster away.
The monster, Gerson, nods his head as he strokes his bread. "While yes, I most certainly do! Just remember that it's gonna cost you!" His smile brightens as he grabs some crab apples from his bag and hands them to the lone marine.
"You know what, since you got rid of those creatures down in the dump, I'll give you a discount. 18G for the crab apples."
The marine looks at the monster for a second, suspicion in his eyes. "How did you know I took care of them?"
The monster laughs before responding. "Well, not many people come down her covered in that green blood of there's. Nor do they look so beat up. So as a thanks for clearing them out, I will give you a discount."
Adrian rubs his neck as he looks back at his armor. Dried blood, both human and alien, covers his PCV and uniform. Along with that, there's plenty of cuts and patches that are completely absent. He guess it's a little bit obvious. Turning back to Gerson, the marine asks another question.
"What do you know of the creatures back there?"
"What do you know of the creatures? You're the one who had to fight them" Gerson laughs again. "I don't know much about them. Not many people go down in the Dump, so it's kinda just a mystery, especially since it was declared off limits by the King. I saw one of the creatures down there before when a kid went down there, had to go find him. Anyways I never found the kid but I did get to see a few of the creatures living down there, got a few good hits on a big one too before it ran away. Big ugly thing that bleeds green and spits acid."
"You fought one of them?!"
"Aye I did. I might not be as good as I was in my youth, but I still got the fighting spirit from the war! I used to be a hero myself, back in those days. Gerson, the Hammer of Justice."
The marine nods and holds out his hand. "It's an honor then to meet such a veteran. I'm Corporal Shephard."
The monster takes the offending hand and shakes it. "Ah, a fellow soldier! I'm Gerson. Been a while since I've seen a true soldier. The Royal Guard are good at what they do, but they ain't like us, they don't know the horrors of real war, and I rather keep it that way Mr Shephard." A dangerous glint appears in his eyes and disappears just as quickly, startling the marine for a second.
"Anyways, what brings you down here? Don't find many humans running around, especially with Undyne on the prowl."
"I feel down a hole. Pretty bad fall." Adrian lied.
The monster nods. "I kinda figured. Say, you humans aren't planning to invade us or anything?" The marine shakes his head. "Ha, just making sure. Anyways, take these crab apples and hurry along. Undyne has been making rounds, so I would watch your back if I were you."
The marine hands the gold over and takes the crab apples. "Thank you. Again sir, it's been an honor meeting such an esteemed veteran."
"Ha, and it's been nice meeting another soldier for once. Now get going, you're holding up my studies!"
"Oh. I almost forgot. I didn't get all of them sadly, the creatures. There are still a few Houndeyes and Barnacles down there. I would recommend you get someone on that before they breed."
The monster laughs. "I didn't know they had names. They from the surface then?"
"You could say that."
"Okay, thanks for the head up."
The marine waves as he exits the doorway, with Chara waiting for him, a smile on her face. "I see you made a friend. How did that go?" The ghost asks, still smiling.
"Just some talk between soldiers. Nothing to worry about." He holds up the crab apples. "I got the goods." The ghost rolls her eyes as the two continue down the cave.
The two make it pass another one of the signs that have been spread out throughout Waterfall. While he's been ignoring them for the most part, Adrian has taken a sudden interest.
Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans.
Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell.
Anything can enter the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave.
The two continue on past the sign as they find a hallway filled with similar signs posted on the cave walls. Most of the other signs are very much the same, with it describing how the monsters could destroy the barrier if something as powerful as seven human Souls attacked it, and the history of the Underground. Past a waterfall, the two find themselves in a darkened cave, with only some lanterns and crystals illuminating the way. While it would have been a problem for someone like Frisk, the darkness doesn't mean much to Adrian with his built in night vision. An electric buzz fills his ears as his world is filled with a green tinge.
The two make their way across the darkened cave system, running into a few monsters along the way, one of which is a small dog that called itself Temmie. Again, like most monsters, a few threats do wonders at getting people off your back, especially when you have a large rifle and cannon on your back. Not that he was going to use it, but still.
The pair eventually make it pass the darkened cave system, but soon after find themselves in another darkened hallway with a pond in that cuts through the path. Again, the night vision works wonders.
"Adrian, behind you."
As soon as those words left the ghosts lips, the sound of metal hitting stone echo across the tunnel. Turning around, the marine comes face to face with the knight, Undyne, that's been following him for a while. His hand hovers his handgun. Should things become real messy, his rifle is still strapped to his back.
Then there's the Displacement cannon should things become FUBAR.
"Seven…" The figure suddenly says.
"Seven human Souls… With the power of seven human Souls, our king… King Asgore Dreemurr will become a god." The marine pulls his handgun out and his wrench in his other hand.
"With that power…" the figure continues, ignoring the stance the marine in front of her takes. "Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take back the surface from humanity and give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured."
The grip on his weapon tightens. "Sorry, but that ain't gonna happen."
"Don't you understand, human?!" Undyne screams. "This is your only chance at redemption." The figure points to the marine. "Give up your Soul, or I'll tear it from your body." The knight crouches down as a blue spear of energy materializes in her grip. The point aimed directly for the marine's chest. The figure takes one step forward…
"Undyne! I'll help you fight!" Monster kid declares as he burst from the bushes and stares at his idol. A look of confusion befalls his face as he looks back at the Corporal behind him. "Yo! You did it! Undyne is right in front of you. You even got front row seats!" The kid looks back between the two. "Wait."
The armored Undyne grabs the monster by the ear, and drags him back from the way Adrian and Chara came from as the kid asks his captive to not tell his parents. Once the pair are gone, the marine holsters his handgun and attaches his wrench to his waist.
"I guess some things never change."
Adrian spares a glance the ghost way, before shrugging his shoulder and continuing down the path.
The two make it down a tunnel filled with echo flowers. At the end of the path, another sign waits. Again, Adrian reads it again.
However… There is a prophecy.
The Angel…
The One Who Has seen the surface.
They will return
and the Underground will go empty.
A chill goes through Adrian's spine as he reads that last excerpt. Why, he doesn't know. Maybe he should ask Chara about it. She would know considering she's lived here and has been due to the Resets. Maybe he shouldn't. It could bring up bad memories. Deciding to leave it be, the marine catches up to Chara, who's waiting for him on a bridge.
"If you play your cards right, Undyne will leave you be, for a second at least."
The marine rolls his eyes, an action that goes unnoticed by the ghost due to his respirator blocking her view. "How helpful." A blown rasberry is all he gets in return. The two go down the wooden path.
Adrian was just about to cross the bridge when a familiar voice comes from behind him, causing him to stop right behind Chara as she crosses to the otherside. Looking back reveals what the marine suspected. Monster kid stands behind him. Before he can tell the kid to go home like he has done multiple times before, the monster speaks up.
"Yo. I know I'm not supposed to be here b… but…" The kid pauses. "I wanna ask you something…" Another pause. "...Man, I never had to ask this to anyone but...hm..." One last pause. "You're a human right?" A nervous laugh. The marine just nods his head.
The kid just laughs again. "I knew it, well I know it now at least, I mean. You know Undyne told me to 'stay away from that human.' So I guess that makes us enemies right?"
The Corporal raises his hand to stop the kid from continuing. "Kid, were not enemies. We have no reasons to be so. You should still go home however, I bet your parents and Undyne are worried sick about you. So please, listen to me and just go home and forget you ever saw me."
"O, oh okay. I'm… I'm gonna go home. Sorry, I've been a huge turd."
"Don't say that kid, your young, you made a mistake, no problem, just don't repeat it."
The kid nods as he takes a step back. Without saying a word, he takes off, covering a large distance in a short amount of time. Halfway across the bridge however, the monster trips on a loose plank. The marine is already on the move before the kid even tumbles over the bridge. As he's making his way to the monster hanging on to the ledge with just his teeth, he sees Undyne crossing the bridge on the other side. He ignores the monster as he picks up the kid by his head and pulls him behind him.
The marine points behind him. "Go."
"But…"
"It's fine, just GO!"
The kid runs off over the bridge, past Undyne and out of view from the two combatants and the ghost. The knight watches as the kid runs around a corner out of view, before turning back to the human in front of her.
"You think that absolves you of your crimes. For all of those you killed."
The marine doesn't answer.
"Six, that's how many Souls have. That's how much we have collected thus far. Understand? With your seventh Soul, the monsters that you killed in the Dump can be avenged, and we will finally become free."
"I never-"
"You know what! Screw it!" Undyne interrupts.
The figure suddenly raises her hand, and yanks her helmet and throws it away from her. Fish-like features greats the marine. The red flowing mane he saw earlier wasn't part of the helmet, but rather her hair. A yellow eye stares back at the marine with killing intent, while the left one is covered by a eye patch. Sharp teeth, like that of a piranha, shine from the light coming from the rocks above them.
"Your standing in everyone's hopes and dreams! I used to think your kind were cool, with their flowery women and giant swords, but you only prove what I should have known all along. Your kind are nothing but murderers! The world would be a better place if you were dead!"
The marine backs up, trying to get himself off the bridge to prepare for the inevitable fight.
"That's right! Your continued existence is a crime! You are what stands between us and freedom."
The marine makes his way off the bridge and onto solid ground. Chara watches as always.
"Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together! Everyone has been waiting their entire lives for this moment, but we are not nervous, because when we put our hearts together, we can't lose! Now, human. Let me show you how determined monsters can really be!"
A spear materializes in her hands.
"En guard!"
The monster charged forward, spear pointed at the marine with the intent to kill. The soldier didn't get the time to think, so he acted instead. As quickly as he could, he sidestepped the monster much like how he did with the Bullsquid not long ago. Undyne goes flying by him before she turns around facing him and blocking his path to Hotland. A determined look in her eye.
Undyne attacks
[Undertale OST, Spear Of Justice]
Before Adrian can bring up his wrench a spear is thrown his way. Before it can make contact, the marine swings his wrench at the incoming projectile. The spear is knocked off course as it slams into the ground next to Adrian and disappears. Another comes his way, causing the marine to turn his body, allowing the projectile to graze by him. A shot from Sparky goes flying back to the Royal Guard and ends up hitting the bridge. The alien tries to fire another shot, but it only ends up causing sparks to dance across his clawed mandibles.
Adrian allows the alien to slither back into his backpack. Spitball quickly takes the Shochroach's place in Adrian's arm.
The monster was not going to sit idly by however. Undyne quickly closes the distance between the two right as Spitball fires off his acidic grenade. The shot hits it's mark, causing Undyne to flinch as the acid eats away at her armor and scales, nonetheless she continues forward, spear in hand. The marine dodges the spear as the monster lunges at him. With an opening, the marine brings out his handgun and aims it at the back of Undyne head. With no time to dodge, Undyne can only stare wait for the bullet to go through her skull as Adrian pulls the trigger.
"I only ask that you avoid killing the other Monsters." The voice of the Caretaker echoes in his head, causing him to pause for just a moment.
Taking the opportunity given to her, Undyne swings her spear backwards like a baseball bat, slamming it into Adrian and causing him to be flung back onto the ground. Pain courses through his abdomen and back as he lands on slides backwards a good few feet. The Displacement cannon not making it anymore comfortable. The Corporal gets up as a Spear slams into the place he was in just a moment ago. Undyne quickly goes on the offensive again as the marine is forced to dodge swing after thrust from the spear in her hands. The spear grazes his armor, and causes blood to leak out of a wound. Bringing out his wrench, the soldier swings the tool overhead and brings it down hard against the monster. A dent is formed just above her shoulder, causing Undyne to wince in pain, and before she can do anything about it, another swing of the wrench slams across her face, causing dust to fly everywhere. The monster quickly counter attacks by kicking the marine away from her before he can bring down his weapon again.
Adrian grunts as he slides back across the stone floor. He's trying his damn best to not kill Undyne but it's proving to become more difficult then he initially thought. Ammo is too low for him to go gung ho and Chara isn't able to help, Sparky is too tired to keep on fighting, and he's getting weared down by her constant attacks. He can't eat to heal himself less he leaves himself open for her to finish him off, and it's becoming increasingly clear that he's not going to win a battle of attrition.
His train of thought is interrupted as the knight throws herself towards him again.
"For years we've dreamed of a happy ending."
Her spear misses Adrian's head by an inch, allowing him to take a swing at the monster again, however before he can, an armored knee slams into his midsection.
"And now, sunlight is within our reach."
The marine gets up as the monster thrust her spear at him, causing him to back up just far enough out of it's deadly reach. His wrench is brought down on the weapon, and with a pull, he gets the magical spear out of Undyne's grasp. Before he can make use of the opening that he created, a hole of blue magical energy appears below him, causing him to jump out of the way as a spear juts out of the portal.
"Alphys told me that humans could be determined, I see now what she means by that."
A spear forms in her hands.
"But I can be determined too!"
Two spears appear above the monsters head. Adrian doesn't need to be a genius to understand what's about to happen next. One of the spears is thrown his way, causing him to dodge. Another spear from above Undyne comes his way, and again he dodges.
Undyne growls and swings her spear impatiently as she summons more spears, and all at once, send them flying to the human in front of her.
"Determined to end this right now!"
The marine tries his hardest to dodge every projectile. The first one was simply hit off course by his wrench, followed closely by the second and third. He was forced to dodge the forth, less he be skewered. The fifth and ends up hitting his side, causing blood to spill on the ground once again. The sixth and final one misses him as he ducks.
Standing back up, Shephard can see that the monster is enraged.
"I don't want to fight you god dammit. Fuck." The marine winces as more blood flows out from his wound. The marines ends up spinning out of the way of a spear, this one going faster than usual. Before he can react, Undyne has already closed the distance between the two, and is about to skewer Adrian alive. Again, the marine ends up dodging the attack, but his movement has slowed down.
He's really trying to not kill Undyne, he really is. He can't run now, not with her so enraged and not with him so hurt. He'll live, the wound isn't a fatal one, but it's still noticeably slowing him down. He's out of options. If he doesn't do something quickly, he'll most definitely die from her constant attacks. While she's tiring out as well, he doesn't know who will tire out first, and he can't bank on it being her. Not like this.
"I only ask that you avoid killing the other Monsters."
"NGAHH! JUST DIE ALREADY!"
Spears form all around Adrian, causing him to pause his train of thought as they close in from every angle. He's able to jump over most of them, but the rest he has to either smack off course or roll under. As he gets past the last spear, he sees Undyne charging at him with her spear pointed straight at his heart. Again, Adrian tries the proven tactic of dodging.
The spear misses his chest, and instead slams into his wrench, causing it to fly away out of his grip.
"Haha, not so tough now are yo-"
A glint of metal can be seen heading towards Undyne abdomen, causing her to widen her eyes.
9999999
Adrian pushes his combat knife further into the monster's abdomen, causing dust to spill out of the wound. The spear in Undyne's hand disappears she tries to push the human back, only to find that all of her strength has simply vanished. The monster grunts in pain as the marine twists the knife, and pulls it out of her abdomen. The head of the Royal Guard falls to one knee as she finds herself at the mercy of the human she promised she would kill.
"Huh, just like that? One simple swing of a knife and I'm finished?" The monster looks away from the human, not as her form starts to disappear.
"I told you I didn't want to fight, and for what's it's worth, I'm sorry" The marine grunts again as he holds his side.
"She's a goner now." Chara speaks up.
"Alphys, Papyrus, Asgore. I'm sorry, I failed you." A look of defeat befalls her face.
Dust starts to fly off her body in larger quantities as her form becomes less and less recognizable.
"Let's get going Adrian." The ghost turns around and heads in the direction of Hotlands.
The marine doesn't answer, nor does he follow she notices.
"Adrian, you coming?"
Hearing no answer the ghost turns around. "Adrian, I don-" She stops as she looks back.
In front of the speechless Adrian, the dust that was once Undyne is reforming. Piece by piece, her body regains its shape and melts only to form back together again. Slowly, her head becomes whole again as the rest of her body meshes together.
[Undertale OST, But The Earth Refused To Die]
"No. My body... It feels like it's splitting apart. Like any minute… I'll scatter into a million pieces." Her torso becomes recognizable again, but everything below that is still melting and reforming again and again.
"But, deep in my soul, I can feel it. A burning sensation that WON'T let me die."
Adrian doesn't move.
"Twenty years since the last human fell down here. We were losing hope that another would ever come again. Now, our chance at freedom is right here, right in front of me. Right now, everyone in the Underground is counting on me to make their dream a reality, because if I don't, then not even the king will stop you."
Adrian backs up Undyne's figure starts to glow, and her eye brightens with a determination. A smile now adorns her face.
"I can feel them, their hearts beating as one, and we all have only one goal. To defeat YOU and gain our FREEDOM!"
Her figure glows even brighter and air becomes more chaotic, with wind pushing Adrian back even further.
"Now, Human. For the sake of all of monsterkind. I, UNDYNE,STRIKE YOU DOWN!
"Oh shit" The ghost swears.
The light reaches its apex, blinding both Shephard and Chara as the marine is thrown back by the wind until he hits a mountain that, in another time, was the fighting ground between the head of the Royal Guard and a fallen child. Chara is quickly by his side, and helps to hoists the marine up onto his feet.
The lone Corporal looks back to Undyne, now fully reformed. Her shoulder pads, now resembling spikes, have lengthened upwards, hard solid gloves adorne her hands, and a symbol much like a heart can be seen on her chest, while the rest of her armor has been upgraded with thicker metal plates.
A thick booming voice comes from Undyne.
"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT!"
The heroine appears
[Undertale - Battle Against A True Hero {Intense Symphonic Metal Cover}]
Wave upon waves of spears materialize behind the now reformed monster as her right eye explodes outwards like a beam. The wind blows all around them chaotically as Undyne motions her gloved hand forward, willing her collection of spears to rush past her, almost blurring as they speed forward with much more force then they have previously. The HECU marine is forced to back up as the wall of projectiles crash into the ground where he once was, breaking the stone floor beneath him. Another is thrown his way as he brings out his rifle. Unlike the others however, this one is yellow.
The marine throws himself into a roll as the spear passes by him. The small victory is almost completely forgotten as the yellow spear turns around mid flight and back in his direction. The projectile cuts through a large portion of his PCV armor as it flies by, blood spurts out of the large gashing wound.
Seeing an opening, Undyne charges forward, summoning more magical spears and hurling them Adrian's way. Shephard, dodges most of them but another cuts through and lodges itself in his PCV. The monster jumps upwards as the spear in Adrian dematerializes, allowing blood to flow through yet another open wound on Shephard. The marine fires off a short controlled burst from his rifle, only to miss as Undyne comes crashing down on him. The marine falls, now sporting a much more nastier cut across his torso as the monster prepares to bring her weapon down again.
Adrian, with adrenaline and determination coursing through his system, takes out his combat knife, ignoring the pain, and swipes at a unprotected portion of Undyne, causing dust to go flying and the monster to stagger back. The knife is inserted into the wound as more and more dust flows outwards, however the marine is only able to get one more good stab before Undyne's right eye explodes outwards again, causing the wind to go fly away from her and pushing Adrian back and disorienting him. Spears appear around him again, causing him to move between them before they all converge on him. He's able to do so, but another circle of spears appear, causing him to duck as they all pass by where his head once was. The process repeats itself again and again, getting faster and faster before the last spears disappear.
Adrian takes a deep breath as he stares down at Undyne, who returns a glare at the marine. Both are injured, but Shephard is the one who's got it bad. Sweat, blood, and dust cover his ruined uniform. Old wounds have been reopened, his helmet has sports a large crack, and legs are shaking from non stop movement. Sparky is curled up in his bag, while Spitball is latched onto his arm. His M4 is slung around his chest, and the Displacement cannon is still behind him.
Undyne on the other hand, only sports the wound inflicted by him earlier in the fight. Unknown to Shephard however, is that one attack almost killed her. Unlike humans, who tire from their wounds, monsters are essentially at full strength until they are on the verge of death. So right now, her only viable strategy is to keep him at a distance and make sure he isn't able to fire off a shot from his rifle less she meets an unfortunate end. The undying monster summons forth more spears, and fires them at the weakened Shephard over and over again.
Adrian sees the spears coming for him, but unlike last time, he stands his ground and points Spitball right at the middle of the projectiles. A ball of acid burst out from the alien's mouth and ends up colliding with the lead spear. The ball explodes, unleashing acid at the surrounding spears. Most of the spears end up disappearing as acid is sprayed on them, while the rest are blown off course by the concussive force of the acid grenade.
Undyne pauses as she sees all of her spears either disappear of blown off course from the exploding ball of acid shot from the creature on the human's forearm. She never really took into account that creature. She saw the other one shot something at her, but never this one.
With her momentarily distracted, Adrian is able to do the one thing Undyne has been trying to stop him from doing in the first place. Sluggishly, Adrian brings out his M4 and aims it at the monster's head. Her eyes widen as Undyne realizes her mistake and tries to jump out of the way as Adrian pulls the trigger, sending three secretive shots at her. The first one hits her armor and punches straight through it, staggering her. The second one punches through the heart on her chest plate, while the third misses due to Adrian not being able to aim properly due to blood loss.
The monster kneels down as she stares at the gaping wound in her chest, and back to the marine who still has his rifle trained at her. Her eye pulsates outwards again, and before Adrian can fire, a spear forms behind him and rushes towards him. He turns and dodges the projectile. Looking back towards Undyne, he sees that she's already gotten up, and has closed the distance between the two. An armored leg kicks the marine backwards, causing both Spitball and his rifle to go flying from him.
"Spitball!"
Another flash of light and a gust of wind ends up throwing him to the side of a mountain, hard. The marine flops down onto the floor, unable to gather his strength. He stares forwards as the monster walks on forward, spear in hand ready to end this fight once and for all.
Undyne makes her way over to the downed human, ready to retrieve his Soul and finally end this fight. While she might not survive, already she can feel herself slipping, she can at the very least allow monsterkind a future and avenge those that the bastard killed in the Dump.
A wrench slams into her head, disorientating her for a second. Looking behind her to see who threw, she finds nothing but empty space. Confusion passes through her before she decides that it's not important as of this second, at least not as important as the human. Turning back to the human, she finds herself facing the open maws of a savage beast.
While the monster was distracted by the wrench thrown at her by Chara, the marine gathered what little strength he had and brought out his final weapon.
The Displacement cannon.
Now he could have just brought out his magnum, or used spitball, but he's too tired to risk missing or her surviving at all. He's been close to death before like this at Black Mesa, and like then, the Displacement cannon saved him, so, he's willing to go a little overkill.
The marine holds down the trigger as extra-dimensional energies gather at the 'mouth' of the weapon. Once it reaches its apex, Adrian lets go of the trigger and watches the green portal fly towards the monster.
Undyne sees the portal closing in on her, and jumps out of its path. A brief moment of relief passes through her as she finds herself facing the human again.
However, the monster was completely out of the portals path of destruction.
A beam of electricity flies out of the portal as it passes through the air, striking stone and bio-luminescent plants alike. As the portal flew by Undyne, one of the unstable beams strikes her figure, causing the monster to scream in pain as her body is disintegrating from the excess amount of energy flowing through her, turning her body to ash before it become dust. The flying portal hits the mountain next to her, and explodes outwards in a green shockwave.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
The monster screams one last time as the shockwave hits her, causing her body to disperse into a cloud of ash before the ash becomes nothing but dust of a fallen monster.
The marine stares at the dust that occupies the space where Undyne once was. No sound escapes him as he simply looks on at the particles floating about in the unnatural wind of the Underground. Chara comes up next to him with his M4 and wrench in hand and Spitball slithering beside her. The ghost sits down next to Adrian as the marine takes off his helmet and respirator before grabbing a Crab Apple from his backpack.
"A thank you would be nice."
The marine simply stares at the ghost as he takes a bite from the monster food. His injuries are already healing over from the magical properties of said food.
"Thanks." The marine says as he takes his weapons and puts them on the floor next to the Displacement cannon.
"Your welcome. So," the ghost continues, "how was it defeating Undyne the Undying?"
The marine snorts. "Really, a pun?"
A punch to the shoulder is the only answer the marine gets, causing him to laugh again before the two fall into a comfortable silence as they contemplate what the hell just happened, unaware of the skeletal figure watching the marine from afar.
Fun fact, I had most of this chapter done for a while. I just got side tracked with playing some Halo Reach on legendary. (HOW DOES AN ELITE'S SHIELD NOT DROP AFTER TWO ROCKETS STRAIGHT TO THE FACE.)
Anyways, the chapter is finally done. The aliens have been revealed, Undyne is dead after going all Undyne the Undying, and Adrian now has to deal with the possibility of humanity being completely gone, while also having to later on deal with some… Unforeseen Consequences
So what was your opinion on this chapter. I included music because Undertale isn't Undertale without music, and because it was the first boss that Adrian had to face. So how did you guys feel about that? Also, I was wondering how you guys thought about the fight. Too much, too little. Tell me what you think. What about Gerson? Who was the guy in Adrian's vision in the last chapter?
Anyways, I'll see you next time, and thank you so much for reading this fic. It means a lot, and I always make sure to always read your comments.
