Nemo grimaced. "Not this again." He muttered.
"GOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES!" Said Mettaton from the other side of the cutout. Nemo poked his head through the hole and looked around.
"What is this?" He asked.
"THIS IS METTATON, REPORTING LIVE FROM MTT NEWS! AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN IN EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY, OUR CORRESPONDENTS ARE OUT THERE, REPORTING LIVE.!" Said Mettaton. "BRAVE CORRESPONDENTS! PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!"
"...Ten? Like one-zero? That's a little sad…" Said Nemo. He then shrugged. "Whatever, we don't have to play your game. C'mon Frisk." Nemo then started walking away, and weirdly enough, the cut out was following him so that he was constantly next to the opening. Nemo didn't get far before the path was blocked by a laser. Nemo gave the laser a flat glare for a few seconds before sighing. "Alright, fine!" He said in annoyance. He then turned around to talk to Frisk. "Hey Frisk, do you see anything 'newsworthy'?"
Frisk looked around before wandering over to a box with a bow. "OH MY! IT'S A PRESENT! AND IT'S ADDRESSED TO YOU DARLING!" Said Mettaton. "AREN'T YOU JUST BURSTING WITH EXCITEMENT? WHAT COULD BE INSIDE? WELL, NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT TO FIND OUT!"
"Ok, I admit that that was clever." Said Nemo with his arms crossed. Frisk then started to open the present.
"ATTENTION VIEWERS! OUR CORRESPONDENTS HAVE FOUND... A PRESENT! AND IT'S TIME FOR THE UNBOXING VIDEO! LET'S FIND OUT WHAT'S INSIDE!" Said Mettaton. As he said that, Frisk finished with the box, revealing a bomb inside.
Nemo's eyes widened in shock. "Frisk get away from there!" He said Frantically as he pulled them away from the box.
"THAT ROUND, BLACK SHAPE… COULD IT BE?" Asked Mettaton." LOOKS LIKE CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY THIS YEAR. IF SANTA GAVE PEOPLE BOMBS INSTEAD OF PRESENTS! REALLY THOUGH. A BOMB. WHAT A THOUGHTFUL GIFT."
"Yeah! If your thoughts were full of blowing people up maybe!" Snapped Nemo.
"THEY EVEN DECIDED TO LIGHT IT FOR YOU! BUT DON'T GET TOO EXCITED!" Said Mettaton. "YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE REST OF THE ROOM YET!" Suddenly the cardboard fell away and Mettaton started flying around. That's when Nemo noticed that the rest of the stuff around here was also bombs. "OH MY! IT SEEMS EVERYTHING IN THIS AREA IS ACTUALLY A BOMB! THAT DOG'S A BOMB! THAT BASKETBALL'S A BOMB! EVEN MY WORDS ARE…!" Suddenly words literally started to fall from the sky and explode.
"Geez!" Said Nemo as he protectively put an arm in front of Frisk.
"BRAVE CORRESPONDENTS… IF YOU DON'T DEFUSE ALL OF THE BOMBS…" Said Mettaton as he flew over to a large pink bomb. "THIS BIG BOMB WILL BLOW YOU BOTH TO SMITHEREENS IN TWO MINUTES! THAN YOU WON'T BE REPORTING LIVE ANY LONGER."
"For some reason that wasn't nearly as funny as his last joke." Said Nemo drily.
"HOW TERRIBLE! HOW DISTURBING!" Said Mettaton. "OUR NINE VIEWERS ARE GONNA ENJOY WATCHING THIS! GOOD LUCK, DARLINGS!"
Mettaton then flew off to the side as the duo's phone began to ring. "D-don't worry!" Said Alphys. "I installed a bomb-defusing program into your phone! Use the defuse button when the bomb gets into the defuse zone! N-now, go get 'em!"
"Ugh." Said Nemo as he looked around at the bombs, which were now all flying around.
"Nemo!" Said Frisk as they pointed at something. Nemo looked and saw the dog-bomb just laying on it's side, taking a nap.
"That's a good place to start!" Said Nemo as he ran over. He held up his phone and saw a green zone on the screen. He focused it so the camera had the dog in the green zone and pressed the button. The dog on the screen then turned green, showing that it diffused. "Alrighty then, so far so good." Said Nemo.
"Good job! Try the one down and to your left!" Said Alphys. Nemo looked at where she was talking about and saw the path to get there. After two turns and some laser trickiness, Nemo arrived at the game bomb. It took some aiming, but he defused the bomb.
"Nemo! Conveyor belt!" Said Frisk as they pointed at the conveyor belt, which had a book bomb on it. Nemo moved through the laser puzzle and onto the conveyor belt. He then started running against the belt until he was in position to intercept the book. He was able to defuse this one even faster than the first two. Nemo looked over and saw the present bomb. He took a steam arrow across a small gap and used his phone on it. After an aim and the press of a button, it was defused.
"Two left." Said Nemo as he looked for the remaining bombs. He saw the basketball bomb in front of the pink bomb. Using another steam arrow sent him straight to it. He aimed, pressed the button, and missed. Nemo began to sweat nervously because of how low the counter was getting. He tried again, and this time he pulled it off. "Alright, where's the water bomb?!" He asked as he looked around.
"Good job! I'm using EM fields to trap the bomb!" Said Alphys over the phone. Nemo looked over and saw that the glass was stuck in place. Nemo rushed over and aimed his phone at the glass. With the click of a button, it was done.
Nemo let out a sigh before looking at the main bomb. "Eight seconds to spare." He said.
"WELL DONE, DARLINGS!" Said Mettaton as he floated overhead. "YOU'VE DEACTIVATED ALL THE BOMBS! IF YOU DIDN'T DEACTIVATE THEM, THE BIG BOMB WOULD HAVE EXPLODED IN TWO MINUTES."
"I don't like where this is going." Said Nemo with narrowed eyes.
"NOW IT WON'T EXPLODE IN TWO MINUTES! INSTEAD IT'LL EXPLODE IN TWO SECONDS!" Said Mettaton maniacally.
"Ah… there it is…" Said Nemo flatly.
"GOODBYE DARLINGS!" Said Mettaton.
"Oh no." Said Frisk worriedly.
"Wait for it…"Said Nemo. The three of them waited for the explosion to happen.
"AH. IT SEEMS THE BOMB ISN'T GOING OFF." Said Mettaton.
"Man, talk about convenient, wouldn't you say, Alphys?" Asked Nemo as he held up his phone.
"That's b-because!" Said Alphys. "While you were monologuing… I…! I f… fix… Um.. I ch-change…"
"OH DEACTIVATED THE BOMB WITH YOUR HACKING SKILLS." Said Mettaton.
"Yeah! That's what I did!" Said Alphys.
"CURSES! IT SEEMS I'VE BEEN FOILED AGAIN!" Said Mettaton. "CURSE YOU HUMANS! CURSE YOU, DR. ALPHYS, FOR HELPING SO MUCH! BUT I DON'T CURSE MY EIGHT WONDERFUL VIEWERS FOR TUNING IN! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLING!" Mettaton then flew away.
"W-wow... W-we really showed him, huh.?" Said Alphys.
"We sure did…" Said Nemo with a flat expression.
"...H-hey, I know I was kind of weird at first…" Said Alphys.
"Kind of? At first?" Thought Nemo with a questioning look.
"But I really think I'm getting more… Uh, more… M-more confident about guiding you! S-so don't worry about that b-big d-dumb robot…" Said Alphys. "I'll protect you from him! A-and if it really c-came down to it, we could just t-turn… um, nevermind! Later!" Alphys then hung up.
Nemo gave the phone a flat look before putting it away.
"Let's go Frisk." Said Nemo as he started walking.
"Oh, uh, ok!" Said Frisk as they followed after him. The pair walked down the path, and after a while, their phone started ringing.
"Um… I noticed you've been kind of quiet… are you w-worried about meeting Asgoe…?" Asked Alphys. Nemo said nothing. "W-well, don't worry, okay? Th-the king is a really nice guy… I'm sure you can talk to him, and… w-with your human souls, you can pass through the barrier! S-so no worrying, OK? J-just forget about it and smile." She then hung up. Nemo sighed before putting the phone away.
"Is something wrong?" Asked Frisk.
"There's a good chance that there is. But I'm hoping I'm wrong." Said Nemo.
Frisk looked away for a moment. "...You don't trust Alphys… do you?" They asked.
"I… I want to trust Alphys, trust me, I do… but… something seems off about all this… and it's really starting to bother me… and every question I ask myself seems to bring me back to the same conclusion." Said Nemo.
"What's that?" Asked Frisk.
"Isn't it all a little too convenient?" He asked.
"What is?" Asked Frisk.
"Just watch… the next time Mettaton starts something, Alphys is gonna come in just as our situation seems unwinnable and have some sort of miracle solution." Said Nemo.
"If you say so…" Said Frisk.
"I'm hoping that this is all coincidence and we aren't being lured into some elaborate trap… but I'm not sure anymore." Said Nemo. The two of them stopped in front of an elevator with L2 printed above the entrance. The duo stepped inside. Frisk walked over to the button panel while Nemo waited for them to select the next floor.
"Hey, Nemo…" Said Frisk.
"What is it?" Asked Nemo.
"I'm looking at the options for what floors we want to go to, and I can't help but notice that some of the options connect to elevators we've already used, almost as if…" Frisk trailed off.
"Almost like we could go there from here, but we can't come here from there? Either that's some really bad designing… or we're being sabotaged." Said Nemo. "But who would do that? Who could even be capable of doing something like that?" He asked sarcastically.
"...Alphys…" Said Frisk.
"What. A. Shocker." He said in annoyance. "Just take us to the next floor."
"Ok…" They said as they pressed a button. The doors closed and took Frisk and Nemo to the next floor. Throughout the ride, they waited in silence. Once the elevator stopped and the doors opened, the duo exited the elevator.
Wherever they were, it was very different from Hotland. They were indoors, and Nemo could see large gears turning in places. "What the…?" He asked himself. He then shook his head. "It's not important, let's just get out of here."
"Ok." Said Frisk as the duo walked ahead. As they walked, they noticed a spider girl sitting at a table with some baked goods.
Nemo and Frisk stopped in front of her. "Welcome to our parlor, dearies~. Interested in some spider pastries?" Asked the spider woman. "All proceeds go to real spiders~. Check out the webs to make purchases.' The human duo then walked over to the webs.
"It says here that their products cost nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine G." Said Frisk.
"Yeah… no." Said Nemo with a flat expression. The duo continued forwards and found themselves in front of another steam arrow puzzle. Then their phone began to ring. "What do you want?" Nemo growled into the phone.
"H-hi, Alphys here!" Said Alphys. "This room is like the room we saw before. There are two puzzles to the north and south… You'll have to solve them both to proceed"
"Oh really?" Asked Nemo. "Why don't you just hack into it!? I mean, it can't be hard for someone as smart as you? Right?" Alphys was quiet. "Right!?"
"I-I really don't like giving away puzzle solutions, but if you need help, just call me, ok?" Said Alphys.
"I DON'T KNOW YOUR NUMBER!" Nemo screamed into the phone, but she'd already hung up. Nemo growled angrily. "That annoying little lizard! She is so obviously screwing with us!" Nemo was half tempted to hurl his phone off the edge and into the abyss below. But he knew it would probably be better to keep the device on hand.
"Nemo…" Said Frisk. Nemo looked over at them, and his expression softened when he saw how nervous they were. He sighed and walked over and hugged them.
"Sorry you had to see me like that." He said softly. "It's just that this is starting to frustrate me."
"Yeah…" Said Frisk.
"Now let's just get this crummy puzzle over with." Said Nemo.
"I liked Papyrus's puzzle more, his were fun… even if it was really cold when we were doing them." Said Frisk.
"Heh… they sure were." Said Nemo. The duo then proceeded to travel across the arrows. It only took about a minute before they were at the entrance to the northern puzzle. But then their souls manifested as a Tsundereplane and a Vulkin attacked them. Nemo sighed and cracked his knuckles. His first target was Tsundereplane, who he hit square in the nose. The duo then had to scatter as a combination of lava and bombs went flying at them. Once Nemo found an opening, he kicked the Tsundereplane in its nonexistent jaw, which caused it to crash into the jaw and explode. He then jumped around flying balls of magma before punching the Vulkin, who was dusted immediately. Nemo sighed as his and Frisk's souls vanished. Frisk walked over and gave him a comforting smile. Nemo tried to return it, but it didn't really work out.
Page 25 End