They didn't get far outside of the lab before they heard and alert from the phone. Nemo pulled it out and checked it.
"Alphys updated their status." Read Nemo. "Why can I read this but none of the other stuff? ...doesn't matter." "Just realized that I didn't watch Undyne fight the human. Emoticon." Then they resumed walking. They didn't get far before it pinged again. "Alphys updated their status. Well, I know she's unbeatable, I'll ask her about it later. Emoticon." They continued walking. And again, they didn't get far before it pinged again. Nemo's eye twitches as he looked at the phone. "Alphys updated status. For now I gotta call up the humans and guide them. Emoticon." He said in an annoyed voice. Nemo knew there was no point in turning in putting the phone away, so he gripped the phone in his right hand, and marched forward. They walked for a short time before reaching a split in the road and both paths had conveyor belts. One belt went away from them, and the other went towards them. "Ok… let's try that one." Said Nemo as he pointed at the one that would actually let them keep going.
"Alright." Said Frisk as they walked to the conveyor belt. The duo carefully stepped on before it started to take them through Hotland. Unfortunately they didn't get far before they were dragged into another battle. Their souls manifested as a Vulkin strolled in.
"Uh, walking volcano." Said Nemo worriedly.
"Speed will help dodge!" Said the small volcano. It then summoned a small flying cloud above them that started shooting lightning.
"Not what I was expecting!" Shouted Nemo as he and Frisk jumped out of the way. Nemo's arms flailed as he got dangerously close to the edge of the belt. Then a bolt hit his chest and he fell over.
"Nemo!" Cried Frisk. Thankfully he managed to grab the edge of the belt and pulled himself up.
"You're hurt! I will heal you!" Said the Vulkin. Suddenly two pillars of smoke rose from the sides of the belt and fire balls started flying from the smoke. Nemo and Frisk did their best to avoid, which wasn't easy considering where they were standing. Nemo cringed as a fireball struck his arm.
"Frisk! Get down!" Said Nemo. Frisk complied, crouching down. Nemo smirked while doing the same before letting the belt do its job and carry them away. Nemo was finally able to let out a sigh of relief as the belt dropped them off at the end of the belt on an area connected to the other belt and their souls vanished. Nemo got up and the duo began to continue forward. But soon after they resumed walking, the phone dinged again. Nemo gave the phone a menacing look before reading. "Alphys updated their status. Gonna call them in a minute. Emoticon." He sighed before the humans resumed walking, only to reach another split in the road with two, more strangely shaped belts.
"Let's go left." Said Frisk.
"Agreed." Said Nemo. They stepped onto the belt, and one uneventful ride later, they were dropped off on another connecting area. The duo proceeded on the path and soon found another star. Frisk went over and put a hand on it. Nemo sighed as his wounds vanished, though considering where they were, the feeling of warmth wasn't particularly fun. The duo continued walking, and they heard a ping come from the phone. Nemo's eye twitched as he pulled out the phone. "Alphys updated her status, surprise, surprise." He said with an eye roll. "I hate using the phone I don't want to do this lmao. Emoticon."
The duo looked and saw a split in the road. On one way the path just led to a dead end with some weird pipes making a square at the end, the other path was similar, but in the center of the square there was a glowing red arrow with puffs of steam coming off of it. "What do you think it does?" Asked Nemo.
"I think it's another puzzle to get us across." Said Frisk.
"What makes you… say…" Nemo responded, trailing off as Frisk went ahead to the arrow. "Frisk!" He called as he chased them, only to stop as his soul manifested. He looked and… "Is… is that an airplane?" Lo and behold, it was an airplane… flying in place, which was an impossibility within itself but that didn't matter, granted it was tiny compared to other airplanes, it was only about twice Nemo's size, and it had a hat, because why not? "Hi there?" He said uncertainly.
"B-baka!" Said the plane angrily, which only confused Nemo more. It started summoning mini airplanes that would fly by Nemo and leave small fire balls. Nemo managed to evade them easily enough though.
"Nope! Not today!" Said Nemo as he bailed from the fight, his soul soon vanishing. He followed Frisk, who had used the arrow to get launched across the dead end to another path. He stepped on and was soon flying across the gap and the lava in it. He did a solid landing on both feet. "The underground is freaking weird." Said Nemo as he looked at the airplane over his shoulder.
"A little bit." Said Frisk as they took a left before stepping onto another arrow. Nemo followed them and the duo found themselves on a path with two different arrows, one going left and the other going right. Frisk decided to go right. Nemo decided to follow them. They were launched again, but rather than take the next arrow, Frisk walked straight past it.
"Where are you going?" Wondered Nemo. This time the area they were at had an arrow that kept changing between left and right. Nemo looked over and noticed that the area to the right had a frying pan on it. "What's that doing out here?" He asked, but got no response as Frisk walked over and got launched across to the right side. They stopped and picked the frying pan and examined it for a moment. Then they walked back over to Nemo and handed it to him. "What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked. Then he remembered something he'd noticed when he was looking at the phone one of the many times Alphys had updated her status. He looked at his small contact list and saw two new ones next to Toriel's and Papyrus's, which read as "Dimensional Box A" and "Dimensional Box B." Nemo selected box A. He looked and saw a list of the things they had found while traveling. Next to it was a list of things he currently had, which only read as, "Burnt Pan." He selected the on the list pan, and it moved to the other list before the real thing suddenly vanished. "Woah." He said before looking back at the contacts list. He stared for a moment before selecting Papyrus's name. It rang for a moment, but he got no response. He sighed before pocketing the phone and following after Frisk.
He wound up flying across some more arrows before meeting up with Frisk back on that one piece of path with two arrows. As soon as he was there, Frisk continued to the left arrow. "They're unusually quiet." Noted Nemo. Suddenly the phone pinged. He stopped and read it, hoping to see Papyrus's name. But no, it was just Alphys updating their status. "omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes omg i'm just gonna do it i'm just gonna call!" It read. Nemo chuckled and rolled his eyes, not bothering to put the phone away because he knew a call would be coming his way. He then followed after Frisk across the arrow. As soon as he caught up with them, the phone started ringing. Frisk looked at him, and Nemo was about to answer, but then the call ended before he had the chance to pick up. "I think that was Alphys." Said Nemo.
"...Why is that?" Asked Frisk.
"She updated her status a few seconds ago saying that she was about to call." Said Nemo flatly.
This made Frisk chuckle. "That sounds like her." They said.
"Nice to see you talking again, you were getting pretty quiet." Said Nemo.
"Oh… was I?" Asked Frisk worriedly.
"Yeah…. Are you feeling ok Frisk? I know you've said you were fine before, but you know it's ok to not be fine right?" Asked Nemo.
"Y...yeah, and I am fine, really." Said Frisk.
"If you say so." Replied Nemo after a moment of silence. He then walked past them. "Let's keep going."
"Ok." They said as they followed after him. They walked and saw the path curve right, and then as the path went, a strange contraption was generating an orange light across the path. Suddenly the phone began to ring.
"Hello?" Asked Nemo after pulling the phone out and putting it next to his ear.
"Uhh! H-hi, so the blue lasers… Uhh! I mean, Alphys here! Hi!" Said Alphys over the phone.
Nemo couldn't help but chuckle at her awkwardness. "Hey there Alphys." He said.
"The blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move!" Explained Alphys. "O-orange ones, um… y-you have to be moving, and they… um, they won't, um…"
"Orange lasers are the opposite of blue lasers. If I keep moving, I won't be hurt, is that what you're saying?" Asked Nemo.
"R-right!" Said Alphys.
"Alright, thanks for the tip Alphys." Said Nemo.
"Uh, yeah uh… bye!" She said nervously before hanging up. Nemo let out a huff of amusement before putting the phone away.
"You seem pretty ok with Alphys." Said Frisk.
"I mean, she hasn't tried to kill us yet, so there's that." Said Nemo.
"I guess that's true." Said Frisk.
Suddenly they heard a ping from the phone. Nemo grabbed it and checked. "Alphys updated status. OMG I did it." He read. "Claws haven't shook like that since Undyne called me to ask about the weather… emoticon." This earned a giggle from Frisk. "Alright, enough clowning around, let's get going."
"Right." Said Frisk. Nemo led the way and when he reached the orange lasers, lo and behold, he was able to pass through the first one without a scratch, same as the second one. Then he stopped when he saw the moving blue laser. Suddenly the phone pinged again.
"Alphys updated status. Wait, there's no weather down here why did she call me." He read. He rolled his eyes at that before putting the phone away. He took a few steps forward and let the blue laser pass right through him before speed walking through the next laser, which was orange. He repeated the process with a second blue and orange laser, before he and Frisk reached two moving blue lasers. Nemo stepped forward as one passed him, then the second passed and he started moving ahead.
"Watch out!" Cried Frisk.
"Huh?" Said Nemo as he turned just in time for the blue lasers to hit him from behind. Nemo let out a groan before freezing in place. The lasers continued forward then came back and passed him. He then moved forward through a final orange laser. Once past it he noticed a switch connected to some sort of pipe. He reached over and pressed it, which caused the lasers to deactivate. Frisk then caught up to him.
"Are you alright?" They asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, I'm fine… ow." Said Nemo as he rubbed his back. "Let's just keep going."
"Ok…" That said.
The duo barely made it five steps when the phone pinged again. Nemo checked the phone. "Alphys updated status. Oh my god I forgot to tell them where to go." He read. The duo continued walking. Two steps later and they received another update. "Alphys posted a picture. Cute pic of me right now. Emoticon… it's a pic of a garage can with a bunch of pink filters over it."
"I don't get it…" Said Frisk before looking to their side. "Oh… now I get it… that's sad." They said.
"Yeah, a little." Said Nemo. They continued walking, took a left on the path and came across a steaming, shifting arrow that led to three different paths. Suddenly the phone began to ring. "Hello?" Answered Nemo.
"A-A-Alphys here!" Said Alphys excitedly, making Nemo move the phone away from his ear as she shouted. " Th… the northern door will stay locked until you… s-solve the puzzles on the right and left! I… I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!" The phone then clicked as she hung up.
"Well all right then, let's get going." Said Nemo as he approached the arrow. Unfortunately he mistimed it and got launched to the middle path. After some grumbling and a use of an arrow that took him back to where Frisk was, Nemo tried again. This time he went too early and ended up getting sent backwards. Frisk was lucky enough to side step and avoid him crashing into them. "One more time!" Said Nemo as he approached the arrow. This time he actually managed to get it right and was sent the right way. Frisk joined him soon after. As they approached a strange doorway with an upside down heart above it, the phone pinged again. "Alphys updated status. Wonder if it would be unfun if I explained the puzzle…"
The duo overheard some monsters talking. "Of course, an experienced fan like myself knows CGI when they see it…" Said one.
"And that's not even counting me!" Said the other. Nemo raised an eyebrow at them before shaking his head and returning his attention to the doorway. He and Frisk entered, not sure what to expect.
The duo saw a strange puzzle in front of them, involving squares and an arrow. "The door leading through the area is closed? So I tried the puzzle? But I kept running out of ammo, and it kept restarting?" Said a small monster wearing sunglasses. "And my two co-workers won't help? It's like they don't even wanna go to work?"
"Nemo, I found the instructions." Said Frisk.
Nemo turned to see Frisk standing on the other side of the room with a piece of paper. "What's it say?" He asked as he walked over.
"Shoot the opposing ship! Move the boxes to complete your mission." Read Frisk.
"Alrighty then…" Said Nemo as he walked over to what seemed to be the control pad. He pressed a button, causing the puzzle to light up. They saw two arrows, a yellow one on their side and a white on the other. "I guess these are the ships." Commented Nemo, he then noticed that next to his ship were two red shapes that must've represented their ammo. Nemo grabbed the joystick and pressed up. This caused one of the boxes to move forward. He pulled back, and both of the boxes moved backwards, he pressed left and it caused the upper box to move into an opening, but since there were no openings to the left of the lower one, it didn't move. "I think I get it." Nemo fiddled for a second, until one box was out of the way, and only the other one blocked their path. Nemo pressed another button, causing one of their projectiles to fire from the ship and destroy the box blocking their way. He fired again, and destroyed the ship. Nemo pressed again and the second projectile fired, destroying the enemy ship. The word 'congratulations appeared in its place in blue letters.
"You did." Said Frisk.
"Ha, nailed it." Said Nemo. The puzzle dimmed and the duo exited the room.
"Look Nemo." Said Frisk as they pointed at the top of the entryway. Nemo looked and saw that the upside down heart was glowing.
"Neat." Said Nemo. He then turned his attention to the steaming arrows. The pair walked to the first arrow and got launched to the main area. Then after some timing, they got launched to the left pathway. The duo walked, and then noticed a blue laser blocking their way. Suddenly their phone began to ring. "Hello?" Asked Nemo.
"Alphys! Here!" Said Alphys over the phone. "Th-that blue laser seems totally impassable! B-b-but! As the Royal Scientist, I h-have some tricks up my sleeve! I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take it out!" She then hung up.
"And I thought Undyne was dramatic." Said Nemo drily before putting the phone away. The laser then turned off. The duo then walked into the puzzle room. It was the same type of puzzle, but Nemo could tell this would be more difficult. He approached the control pad. The puzzle up, and two red blips appeared next to their ship. Nemo sighed before getting to work. It took about thirty seconds of fiddling, Nemo lined it up so only one box separated his ship and the enemies. Nemo pressed the fire button twice. The first shot destroyed the box, the second annihilated the ship. Nemo couldn't help but notice that when the ship was destroyed, it looked disturbingly familiar to when Toriel's soul was destroyed. Nemo inhaled sharply as he gripped his scarf, which was still wrapped around his torso.
"Nemo?" Asked Frisk, concerned.
Nemo turned and smiled at them. "Don't worry kiddo, let's just get going." He said.
They gave a small nod. "Ok…" They replied as the two of them exited the room.
Page 22 End